Along the north shore of Conception Bay, Nfld., municipal elections are often routine affairs. Voters turn out in ho-hum numbers, incumbents tend to keep their jobs, while sometimes whole councils are acclaimed when no new candidates step forward. Which makes what happened on voting day in the town of Clarke’s Beach, population 1,400, nothing short of historic.

For the past four years, the tranquil seaside village has been the home of one of Canada’s most rancorous town councils. A raging feud between long-time councillors and the town’s popular mayor, Betty Moore, threatened to keep town business at a standstill. The acrimony came to a head last fall when councillors voted to strip citizens of the right to vote directly for mayor, returning to an earlier method where citizens voted for councillors, who would later choose the mayor from within their own ranks. At the time the mayor and council were locked in an increasingly bitter battle with wild accusations from both sides—that the mayor was acting like a dictator, or that councillors were staging a coup. The conflict came to a head when the council voted in favour of a $40,000 land purchase while Moore, who said she wasn’t told of the vote, was away at a scheduled event.

But if, as critics claimed, councillors thought citizens might shrug off the matter, that strategy backfired. On Sept. 24, a record number of people—75 per cent of eligible voters—came out to cast ballots in support of a staggering 25 candidates—more than in any municipality in Newfoundland outside of St. John’s. And after the votes were tallied, the only survivor was Moore. “I’m just thrilled,” she says. “I have all these new people around me and we’re looking forward to working together.”

In the months before the campaign, Moore says she was unsure how it would unfold. While many people approached her to say they were unhappy with town council, she worried there wouldn’t be enough new candidates on the ballot to bring change to the town. “I kept telling everyone, people need more choices,” she says. So she was “totally surprised” when 25 candidates stepped forward for the town’s seven council seats. In another first for Clarke’s Beach, the majority of elected councillors were women.

At 27, Crystal Brett is the youngest of the new councillors, who will be sworn in Oct. 3. A native of Clarke’s Beach, Brett says she was very familiar with the previous councillors, many of whom had been in office since she was a child. She decided to run because she felt the council had become defined by “bullying and tension.” “Clarke’s Beach is my home, and I’ve always believed that you should stand proud for your town,” she says.

Due to the rejigged ballot system brought in by the previous council, the decision of who will become mayor has yet to be made. Moore says council will almost certainly revert back to the old rules so that voters can decide for themselves who will be mayor in the next election. In the meantime, she says she intends to nominate the councillor who received the most votes (Moore received the second-highest share of votes after her nephew, Wayne Snow) and says she will not regret losing the position. “Right now, I’m totally committed to working with council to improve Clarke’s Beach,” she says. After the year she’s had, she says, that’s ambitious enough.

When Earl Silverman was found dead, hanging from the rafters of his garage after an apparent suicide, those who knew him best said he had died from indifference. For the last five years, Silverman had owned Canada’s only shelter for men, taking battered husbands and their children into his own house in Calgary so they could escape abusive wives. A soft-spoken man in his late 50s, Silverman was inspired to start his shelter after leaving his own wife, who he claimed abused him physically and emotionally during their 20-year marriage, but he was unable to find a shelter that would admit him. In March, Silverman had closed his shelter, sold his home and filed for bankruptcy. On April 27 his body was found, along with a four-page suicide note—in which he allegedly blamed the federal and provincial governments for indifference toward the suffering of men.

“That note was his final attempt to get his story on the record,” says Karen Straughan, an Edmonton-based writer, activist and friend of Silverman’s. “During his life, he was always silenced, so I think this was one last, desperate attempt to be heard.”

And he was heard. As soon as the details of Silverman’s death were released by Calgary police, the news began to travel swiftly through the Internet. Hundreds of websites and message boards devoted to men’s rights caught onto the story. Popular sites like A Voice for Men and the men’s rights forums on Reddit and 4chan were flooded with messages about Silverman’s struggle and demise. Many of those who commented online had never heard of Silverman while he was alive, but after his death they felt compelled to share their feelings of grief, frustration and anger.

A Reddit user named AgentmrmOrangemra wrote, “This is what happens when we throw men on the garbage heap.” On A Voice for Men, editor Paul Elam said Silverman was a victim of feminism and “misandrist bulls–t.” Harry Crouch, president of the National Coalition for Men, said Silverman was “murdered by suicide by the feminized state of Canada.” One Reddit user commented that, “The vaginocracy has blood on its claws over this.” As the story took off, mainstream media outlets joined the discussion. Salon, the Huffington Post and The Atlantic Wire published articles about Earl Silverman. In Canada, multiple newspapers ran obituaries. Some writers commiserated with Silverman’s troubled life, some discussed abuse against men, but the loudest voices belonged to those looking for someone to blame.

In response to the rhetoric coming from men’s rights groups, Salon writer Mary Elizabeth Williams wrote an article entitled, “Feminism didn’t kill men’s rights advocate Earl Silverman,” where she sympathized with Silverman’s plight, but called into question the statistics used to measure violence against men. Within a matter of hours the response escalated, quickly degenerating into the kind of interplay that ultimately reinforced the worst stereotypes of the men’s rights’ movement, with its inherent sexism, threats of violence and extreme language. Elam from A Voice for Men responded with an article entitled, “Mary Elizabeth Williams killed Earl Silverman.” Blogger Dean Esmay responded with a list of feminist men, women and organizations he believed were to blame, ranging from Alberta Premier Alison Redford to writers with the feminist blog Jezebel to professional video-gamer Anita Sarkeesian. At the end of his article he added that men’s rights activists would be “coming for them” and all the other “feminists who will be dancing on [Silverman’s] grave” for making all men disposable entities in modern society. Every new article about Silverman’s death was met with angry comments, finger-pointing and another incendiary article. Soon, on any website where Silverman and his death were being discussed, any meaningful consideration of the issues was quickly drowned out by the deafening noise of what was quickly becoming a wall of hate.

The men’s right’s movement, born as an offshoot of feminism, first hit its stride in the 1980s, lobbying for more equity in custody disputes, and greater opportunities in a world which, they felt, had tilted intentionally to favour the women ignored for generations by traditional values. Those early days of boys’ education advocacy and father’s rights eventually spawned a movement that bears little resemblance to the original, one whose demographic is considerably younger, whose focus is more scattershot, and whose anger is considerably more pitched. No longer is it a movement for disenfranchised men. This is now, increasingly, a movement of Angry Young Men.

Paul Elam represents the old guard. At 56, he launched A Voice for Men in 2008 to raise awareness about under-reported male issues including domestic violence, suicide and child custody. It wasn’t long, however, before he found that the primary men’s rights demographic was young, unmarried men between the ages of 18-24. He expanded the site’s content to include issues pertinent to his largest readership: the growing gap between girls and boys in education, men who face false rape accusations, and what he calls “the demonization of male sexuality.” The majority of the blog’s content is about feminism, which the blog calls a “totalitarian, violent, amoral murderous ideology of sexual apartheid and hatred.” Articles on feminism are often accompanied by photos of Nazis or the Ku Klux Klan, and one of the most prominent features of the blog are the pictures of dangerous “bigots”—most of whom are young, female university students who have protested at men’s rights events on campuses.

While Elam admits that sometimes the comments and photos on the site are not as measured as he would like, he says the vitriolic headlines are an effective way of gathering traffic. A Voice for Men attracts more visitors than any other men’s issues website, including the Canadian Association for Equality and the Good Men Project. Elam, who himself is the author of a post entitled, “When is it OK to punch your wife?” says he doesn’t “get a rise out of offending people,” but admits anger is the only thing that’s driving the conversation forward. Far from encouraging violence, Elam says that being able to talk about being angry at women, hating women and even beating women on sites like A Voice for Men provides a lot of hurt men the ability to vent emotionally in a supportive environment, so they don’t have to express their anger physically.

“Some of the men on the site have been in abusive relationships, have gone through unfair divorces—they’ve just been savaged by the system. I won’t tell them to stop being angry.” He thinks the rage expressed on his site is a natural and harmless reaction to young men’s uncertain place in modern society. As women pull ahead in education, men are being left behind. As universities raise awareness of sexual assault on campus, men feel as if they are all thought to be potential perpetrators of sexual violence. As women transcend traditional gender roles, young men are increasingly confused about how to behave in a relationship. In a more just world, Elam says, men could at least talk about their problems, but many universities shut down men’s groups before they are even formed. This spring, the Canadian Federation of Students passed a motion encouraging all student unions to reject men’s rights groups, because they promote “hateful views toward women” and justify physical and sexual assault.

More recently, a controversy over a campaign at the University of Alberta fed national headlines. The “Don’t Be That Girl” campaign, by Men’s Rights Edmonton, suggests some women lie about being raped and that rape is over-reported. Posters depict attractive young women drinking in the company of young men with the caption, “Just because you regret a one-night stand doesn’t mean it wasn’t consensual.”

The University of Alberta ordered the posters be taken down, saying that while free speech is respected, the posters violated the school’s posting policies. Men’s Rights Edmonton says the poster was meant to provoke discussion about double standards.

Warren Farrell, a prominent gender activist councillor, and author of The Myth of Male Power, is not surprised that young men today are angry. “In our society, the sound of men complaining is like nails on a chalkboard,” he says. But their angst, he says, stems from larger feelings of powerlessness. Farrell, 69, is considered the grandfather of the men’s rights movement. He has been writing about boys and men since the 1980s, but only recently have his books begun to do well commercially. In light of this new success, he admits that he is cautiously optimistic about where the men’s rights movement is headed. He drew a sold-out crow—and protests—when he spoke at the University of Toronto last November.

James McCarthy, a 21-year-old student at the University of Toronto, says he was shocked to see so many people protesting the event and labelling it as a hate group. McCarthy says that, while he has never faced any discrimination because he is a man, he does believe that women are unfairly privileged due to the expectation of chivalry and receiving privileges over men because men are sexually attracted to them. “Feminists often claim that chivalry is a product of the patriarchy that they are trying to change, but I doubt that many are interested in challenging the status quo.”

The Farrell event at U of T was organized by the Canadian Association for Equality (CAFE)—a men’s rights group that was founded in Toronto in 2011. In March, the group was banned from forming a chapter at Ryerson University after the student council ruled that CAFE was a hate group. Iain Dwyer, a 28-year-old IT specialist and spokesman for the group, says the strong opposition to men’s rights has been frustrating because “no reasonable person” could argue there is a disparity in society that benefits men. In spite of the opposition, in under two years the group has grown to include affiliated groups at university campuses in Guelph, Montreal, Ottawa and Peterborough, as well as off-campus groups in Ottawa and Vancouver, with thousands of young supporters in Canada and the United States. “I understand why a lot of them are angry,” says Dwyer. “I’ve felt anger myself.”

Mark Harris, 24, also learned about the men’s rights movement during the protests at the University of Toronto against Farrell. He sees the growing movement as part of Gen Y’s failure to launch: “Men my age are struggling, they’re doing poorly in school and unemployment is high,” he says. “A lot of young men are frustrated and looking for someone to blame.”

In a time where there is little class consciousness, Harris says, he’s not surprised that women have become a target for angry men. A lot of young men are frustrated by romantic expectations and afraid of being rejected, but it’s more likely to do with how women seem better prepared for the workplace than men. “Women just seem to have a better work ethic, they tend to be more organized, more meticulous,” he says. “Maybe it’s because girls are brought up to believe that the world is a hard place for women. Boys aren’t brought up that way, so women tend to be better prepared to meet the expectations of the world.”

At the protest against Farrell at U of T, where protesters called the attending men misogynists and pigs, what McCarthy remembers best is one sign, which said, “Sorry about your Man-Feels.”

“Sure, it was funny,” he says. “But it was also offensive.”

After a similar men’s rights event, organized by CAFE in April, there was a similar clash of protesters, and afterwards A Voice for Men posted a video from the event. In the clip, a red-haired woman is reading an article about the shared goals of feminism and men’s rights, while swearing at those who interrupted her. The video quickly reached over 100,000 views; hundreds of comments flooded in from men’s rights activists, threatening to beat, rape and murder the woman in the video. The woman, Charlotte (who is using a pseudonym for safety reasons) says that men’s rights activists disseminated her personal information, including what they believed to be her home address, and sent her hundreds of violent, graphic and sexualized threats, which included personal details such as her dog’s name and her favourite karaoke bar. In one Facebook message, the sender promised that he would not sleep until her “unholy blood was spilt.” She contacted police and did not hear from them until 17 days later. After speaking with them a second time, Charlotte says they never contacted her again, and she thinks they did not investigate because the threats did not specifically imply she was in immediate danger.

“I was terrified by the messages,” she says, “but it’s more terrifying when the cops tell you it’s not necessarily illegal. What’s ironic is that most men’s rights activists decry that society treats all men like potential rapists,” she says. “But the first thing they do when a woman speaks out against them is send her rape threats.”

Elam from A Voice for Men and CAFE’s Dwyer insist that the heated conversations and questioning of feminism following Silverman’s death will ultimately do more good than harm. A Voice for Men has already announced they are raising money for a men’s shelter in Montreal, and CAFE will be announcing a project later in the year.

Beyond the legacy of his shelter and his public claims of spousal abuse, very little has been said about Earl Silverman. Comments from those who knew him reveal only a few details about his life beyond his work—he liked to chat with friends over Skype, he had no children, he owned a cat. Memories of Silverman’s personality and day-to-day life are all but lost in the swirl of vitriol that has dominated all conversations surrounding his death.

Warren Farrell does not deny that the Internet culture surrounding men’s rights can be toxic, but it doesn’t worry him. “Every movement has radicals,” he says. “But the important thing is that the radicals are not the leaders.”

Popular wizard, Bond villain and world-renowned classical actor Sir Christopher Lee is 91 today, and is celebrating by dropping a heavy metal album.

Lee’s voice has been used in music before many times before. The actor, who played the iconic, three-nippled Bond villain Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun, was sampled in Alice Cooper’s rejected theme song for the movie, and in the 1990s he narrated four albums by Italian symphonic power metal band Rhapsody of Fire. In 2010 he recorded his first full length album, Charlemagne: The Sword and the Cross, which explored the legacy of the legendary leader. Lee, who played dark wizard Sarumon in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, says he is related to Charlemagne on his mother’s side, and his family still bares a very similar coat of arms. The albumwas a symphonic metal tribute to the first Holy Roman emperor and was awarded the “Spirit of Metal” award from the 2010 Metal Hammer Golden Gods ceremony.

Charlemagne: The Omens of Death, is the heavy metal follow-up to The Sword and the Cross. This album, which will is available for download on iTunes today and is being released on CD and Vinyl, continues to explore the legacy of Charlemagne, and the conqueror’s vulnerability. Lyrics like “It was with a sword, I overcame my assailants” are followed with universal sentiments like “with my royal scepter, sometimes I wondered why I could not retire from this world.”

The album also features Black Sabbath founder Tony Iommi on guitar. Iommi and Lee decided to collaborate on this album after Iommi told the actor, who was once the voice of Thor in the German version of the Danish film Valhalla that he was inspired to begin playing metal as a child, after seeing Lee play Dracula in 1958.

]]>Nova Scotia: A woman from Hatchet Lake has sued a Halifax hospital and three doctors, claiming medical malpractice led to the loss of her leg in 2011. In her claim, Vickie Lee Morton said she visited the emergency room three times over three days about a foot infection before she was finally diagnosed with pyomyositis, a bacterial infection, which, because it was left untreated, ultimately required the amputation of her leg.

Quebec: While McDonald’s has been charged with clogging arteries in the past, this month the fast-food joint was accused of slowing down an entire city’s sewage system with discarded grease. The city of Dorval has sued a local McDonald’s restaurant, claiming its inadequate drainage system has clogged up city sewers and cost the city $14,185 in cleaning costs.

Ontario: Maria Fernandes, a former employee of Toronto-based Marketforce Inc., is suing for wrongful dismissal after learning via a misdirected email that her bosses might fire her. In her statement of claim, Fernandes says the company’s director of operations hit “reply all” on an email to lawyers discussing her possible termination. Fernandes left her job and, in her court filing, claims she was effectively fired from her $145,000-a-year job.

Alberta: An Edmonton inmate who stomped his cellmate to death in 2011, but was found not criminally responsible, is suing the province for not providing him medical attention. The plaintiff, Justin Somers, was found not guilty of killing Barry Stewart after telling his psychiatrist he thought Stewart was a cannibal. The suit claims $500,000 in damages.

British Columbia: Lillooet’s chief administrator, Grant Loyer, filed a lawsuit against three residents, claiming emails that appeared on the Internet about his handling of several floods exposed him to “contempt, ridicule and hatred.” The suit, which, among others, names former mayor Ted Anchor as a defendant, claims unspecified damages.

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/on-mcsludge-and-the-peril-of-reply-all/feed/0Is that new polymer bill the real deal?http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/shiny-smooth-and-fake/
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/shiny-smooth-and-fake/#commentsFri, 24 May 2013 17:00:00 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=386643'As long as we print money, there will be attempts to counterfeit'

Ever since they were released by the Bank of Canada in 2011, Canada’s new polymer $100 bills have courted controversy. There were claims the bills were prone to melting when placed in the sun or near household heaters. It was revealed the bank had to redesign the bills after focus groups objected to a picture of an Asian scientist on the back, because it “racialized” the bill. Meanwhile, some have claimed the maple leaves on the bill depict a Norwegian variety that is not native to Canada.

Through it all, the Bank of Canada stood by the polymer notes because they were confident the material and design would curb counterfeiting. This month, however, counterfeit $100 polymer bills were found circulating in B.C.’s Lower Mainland, and the police are now warning Canadians not to be overconfident in the authenticity of the banknotes. Interestingly, it could be the bills’ high-end features that, for now at least, make them vulnerable. The RCMP believe that Canadians are not familiar enough with polymer notes’ safety features to verify their authenticity, compared to the older cotton-and-paper notes.

The seven bills seized in B.C. all had the same serial number and were missing the raised printing used with genuine polymer notes that’s meant to help people identify real bills. Bank of Canada spokesperson Julie Girard maintains the new notes are among the most secure in the world. Of the more than 500 million notes circulated since 2011, only 59 counterfeits have been seized. This number is substantially lower than a decade ago, when 470 in every million bills were fake. “As long as we print money, there will be attempts to counterfeit,” she says.

The waiting game is over for America’s top college basketball teams: one of the most-hyped recruits in years, the Canadian basketball phenom Andrew Wiggins, is going to Kansas. The six-foot-eight, 18-year-old forward and Toronto native passed over Florida State—the alma mater of both his parents—Kentucky and North Carolina, and will don a Jayhawks jersey come the fall, a decision that left coach Bill Self with what he called a “kind of surreal feeling.” Wiggins has been compared to the likes of LeBron James and is known for a blend of athleticism and effortless style on the court. Kansas, whose basketball program was founded by James Naismith, the Canadian-born inventor of the game, “felt like the place for me,” Wiggins said. But he’s only expected to stay for the year—he’s the heavy favourite for the top spot in the 2014 NBA draft.

Learn your ABZs

U.S. President Barack Obamajoked at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner that he had “99 problems” and rapper Jay-Z, who had recently taken a controversial trip to Cuba with superstar wife Beyoncé Knowles, was one. Now it looks like the Obamas might well become a problem for Jay-Z, if first lady Michelle Obama’s remarks at Bowie State University in Maryland are any indication. At a commencement ceremony, she told graduates of the historically black university to “be an example of excellence to the next generation” instead of “fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper.” That’s career advice that might ruffle the feathers of Jay-Z, a high-school dropout who hosted a $40,000-a-head fundraiser for the president during his last campaign.

Masking a fortune

If you’ve ever wanted to own a death mask belonging to a power-hungry tyrant, $53,000 could make that dream come true. Napoleon Bonaparte’s head is up for auction at Bonhams, 192 years after the former French emperor died on the island of Saint Helena. Andrew Boys, the current owner of the cast of the death mask, is a descendant of Rev. Richard Boys, the chaplain who originally owned the mask. The reverend Boys got on well with Napoleon in the Frenchman’s final years on the British island, and earned the mask as a reward for their friendship. Turns out even failed megalomaniacs have pals to the end.

A royal blunder

Merida, from the 2012 movie Brave, was the first female lead ever created by Pixar. The studio’s parent company, Disney, chose to mark this momentous feminist triumph with marketing materials showing her as a stereotypical Disney princess, complete with a low-cut princess dress, a frizzy hairstyle and a much smaller waist than she had in the film. The drawing, which appeared on the company’s “princess website,” was criticized by everyone from Jon Stewartto Brenda Chapman, the female director fired from the movie: “Disney marketing,” she told a reporter, “should be ashamed of themselves.” It took a while but Disney finally clued in that the outrage wasn’t going away and took the drawing down.

Jewel of denial

Marc Bertoldi may be a trendsetter in the rising field of jewel theft. The French auto dealer was arrested in connection with the theft of $50 million worth of diamonds from a passenger airplane. The very day he appeared in court and managed to avoid extradition to Belgium, thieves broke into a hotel in Cannes and lifted $1 million of movie-star jewels. So while Bertoldi denounced the fact that he’s considered “almost guilty” without a trial, at least he may have an alibi for any other jewel heists that happen in France.

Too fool for school

Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries has learned that the things you say will eventually ruin your life, even if it takes years. Jeffries gave an interview to Salon magazine in 2006, where he said his stores “go after the cool kids” and that people who don’t have the right looks “don’t belong, and they can’t belong.” Hardly anyone noticed the interview at the time, but last week it went viral, provoking complaints from non-skinny celebrities, including actress Kirstie Alley. Jeffries was forced to take to Facebook and issue an apology, telling the world that A&F is “strongly committed to diversity and inclusion.” He didn’t say if that was also true seven years ago when he gave the interview.

Coke, the deal thing

Remember the soap-opera storyline about the young actor who was arrested for dealing cocaine? Wait, that’s not a soap opera, that’s soap actor Dylan Patton, who was fired from Days of Our Lives in 2010. Three years after his role was recast, he’s been charged with selling coke out of his parents’ house in Los Angeles, a home that is conveniently located near an elementary school. Though his parents were home when he was arrested, no one had paid his bail the three days after he was thrown in jail. And you thought Rob Ford had problems.

From flub to fame

Known as one of the hardest anthems to sing, the Star-SpangledBanner has humbled many a vocalist. Knowing that didn’t make it any easier for Saskatoon singer Alexis Normand when, while performing the anthem prior to the Memorial Cup final in her home city, she made it through all of three lines before melting down, substituting mumbling, long pauses and sustained notes in lieu of the song’s actual lyrics. Eventually the crowd at Saskatoon’s Credit Union Centre came to her rescue and sang the lyrics along with her. Despite immediately tweeting an apology, her performance went viral—to both jeers and words of support, not to mention interview spots on CNN and CBS.

Getting a head start

Since the remains of King Richard III were identified in February as those buried under a parking lot in Leicester, England, the Richard III Society has been busy putting his bones to good use. The society, dedicated to rehabilitating Richard’s good name after centuries of being maligned as an usurper and murderer, got a forensic art team at the University of Dundee to use the monarch’s skull to reconstruct what he looked like. Then scientists created a life-size wax model using a 3D printer. The bust is going on a “highlights of Richard’s life” tour, including the Bosworth battlefield where he was slain in 1485, before ending in Leicester at the new Richard III visitor centre. The society’s hope: to put a new face on Richard’s life.

A restaurant from hell

Gordon Ramsay is not usually one to shy away from a challenge, but on a recent episode of Kitchen Nightmares, the celebrity chef met his match. Amy and Samy Bouzaglo, the husband and wife team behind the repetitively named Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique and Bistro, an Italian fusion restaurant in Arizona, were the first restaurant owners Ramsay ever gave up on after they were filmed abusing customers, confiscating their servers’ tips, serving raw pizza and lashing out at criticism. After the episode aired, viewers expressed their shock on the company’s Yelp and Facebook pages, and the Bouzaglos’s explosive, rage-filled response went viral—“You people are all s–t,” the couple wrote. Not only did the couple become a web sensation—they even made the world feel sympathy for Ramsay.

Farewell, and good riddance

Jorge Rafael Videla, the brutal army commander who came to power in Argentina after a 1976 coup, died May 17 from natural causes while serving time in a Buenos Aires prison for crimes against humanity. Videla, 87, was the last surviving member of a three-man junta that held power in Argentina from 1976 to 1981. Often considered the darkest period of the country’s modern history, he was found guilty of mandating extrajudicial killing, widespread rape and the systematic abduction of infants from suspected left-wing activists.

Freedom 38 for Beckham

Eighty-one minutes into his match for Paris Saint-Germain last weekend, soccer superstar David Beckham was subbed from the game, marking the start of his retirement. “I want to say thank you to everyone,” he said, noting that after 22 years in the sport, he wished to spend time with his family.

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/news/newsmakers-79/feed/0Fisker Karma hybrid car becomes example of failed U.S. environmental policyhttp://www.macleans.ca/economy/business/bad-karma/
http://www.macleans.ca/economy/business/bad-karma/#commentsFri, 03 May 2013 16:49:00 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=379280The Karma was once the future, now it's trying to stay on the road

When the Fisker Karma debuted in 2008, its stunning design and innovative plug-in hybrid drivetrain were heralded as the future of America’s automotive industry. Today, the company is on the brink of bankruptcy after selling fewer than 2,000 cars worldwide.

Last week, Fisker missed a $10-million loan payment to the U.S. government—it had been approved for a $529-million loan in 2009, and had received $192 million before being cut off—and the company is now being held up by critics as an example of the Obama administration’s failed green policies. At a hearing before Congress, conservatives accused the administration of making a rash and risky bet on Fisker and its untested technology.

Indeed, when Karmas landed on showroom floors in 2011, they were riddled with defects, and several needed their batteries recalled. And at $100,000, they were roughly the same price as a Porsche 911, which doesn’t need to be pulled over to be recharged.

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/economy/business/bad-karma/feed/7NBA center Jason Collins announces he is gayhttp://www.macleans.ca/general/nba-center-jason-collins-announces-he-is-gay/
http://www.macleans.ca/general/nba-center-jason-collins-announces-he-is-gay/#commentsMon, 29 Apr 2013 16:55:07 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=378301Collins becomes first openly gay athlete in North American major league sports

]]>NBA center Jason Collins has come out as the first openly gay athlete playing major league sports in North America, sharing the news in a carefully-worded personal essay for Sports Illustrated.

The 31-year-old veteran of over 700 games says that he did not want to be a trailblazer, but is ready to take the mantle of responsibility because he is tired of pretending to be someone he is not.

“I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation,” he wrote. The 7″ tall athlete has played in the NBA for 12 years, and says he hid his identity first out of fear and then out of loyalty to his teams.

“When I signed a free-agent contract with Boston last July, I decided to commit myself to the Celtics and not let my personal life become a distraction. When I was traded to the Wizards, the political significance of coming out sunk in.” He added that part of what prompted his decision was a desire to walk in Boston’s gay pride parade with his friend, a straight Massachusetts congressman.

A handful of professional athletes have come out after retirement, including John Amaechi (basketball), Billy Bean (baseball) and David Kopay (football). In Europe, rugby player Gareth Thomas came out in 2009, while he was still playing for Wales, and said that lying about his sexuality drove him to attempt suicide.

NBA Commissioner David Stern was quick to lend his support to Collins.

“Jason has been a widely respected player and teammate throughout his career and we are proud he has assumed the leadership mantle on this very important issue,” Stern said in a statement.

“Jason’s announcement today is an important moment for professional sports and in the history of the LGBT community,” Clinton said. “It is also the straightforward statement of a good man who wants no more than what so many of us seek: to be able to be who we are; to do our work; to build families and to contribute to our communities. For so many members of the LGBT community, these simple goals remain elusive.”

Shares in Crumbs Bake Shop, a New York-based chain of gourmet cupcake shops, dropped 34 per cent this month, falling to an all-time low of $1.70.

When the company debuted on the NASDAQ in 2011, it was the first cupcake bakery to go public, and its shares quickly rose to an all-time high of $13.

While store closures during hurricane Sandy have been blamed for the recent drop, many observers argue gourmet cupcakes were a trend doomed to fall out of favour. The craze began in the early 2000s, when another New York cupcake shop was featured on Sex and the City.

The first Crumbs location opened in 2003 at the height of cupcake mania, selling its creations for as much as $5 each. Analysts cited in the Wall Street Journal blame over-saturation as the root of the industry’s problems. Or perhaps customers realized it’s just as easy to make cupcakes at home.

A new video promoting the City of Calgary has been making the rounds on social media sites this week with many people calling the soulful montage a “viral success” for Calgary tourism – despite having under 1, 000 views on YouTube.

The generic tourism ad is part of the ‘Be Part of the Energy’ campaign, which aims to attract business and tourists to Alberta’s biggest city, and has been discussed at length on Canadian news outlets, including Global News, CTV and the CBC. Is the ad reflective of a new, more cosmopolitan Calgary? Is the new ad too youthful? Is it fair to baby-boomers and senior citizens? Is this the image that Calgary wants? Will this be a game-changer for Calgary? Has Calgary arrived?

A more relevant question may be, why is a broad and derivative ad fueling so many questions? While the spot is certainly attractive and well-edited, it is a tourism ad. Like most tourism ads in Canada, it showcases a bevy of young, multicultural people running, jumping and slow-motion laughing in the sunlight – not exactly controversial stuff.

Like most tourism ads it also shows a broad and sweeping picture of urban life that says very little about Calgary in particular. Should it surprise anyone that in Calgary, people attend business meetings and go jogging? Does it open your eyes that Calgary has attractive restaurants and Frisbee enthusiasts? That Calgary girls shop and Calgary boys drink beer? While there are a few cowboys and mountains shots, 80 per cent of that footage could just as easily be an ad for Vancouver, or Kansas City, or Winnipeg, or Saturday.

In the end, the most interesting travel ads (like Newfoundland’s, for example) will always show off the things that are unique to visitors and boring to locals. It doesn’t matter how many restaurants you open, Calgary, you’re always going to get more attention for your fabulous set of mountains. Own it.

Or don’t.. The point is, if you want to attract tourists to your city for a relaxing vacation, you’ve got to loosen up and stop second guessing yourself.

It’s an industry boom that knows no altitude limit. As Alberta’s oil industry rapidly expands, efficiently moving workers to and from remote extraction sites has become vital. But as petroleum companies of all sizes increasingly turn to private planes and company-operated airports, the skies are getting dangerously crowded. “There is a mentality that, here in the Great White North, there is nothing but space and open skies,” says Bill Werny, vice-president of operations at the Fort McMurray Airport Authority. “That’s just not the case anymore.”

While many oil-sands airports consist of a few small planes on a single strip of tarmac, the biggest companies charter more flights than many of Canada’s top commercial airlines. Combined, oil-sands airplanes move roughly 750,000 people a year, more than municipal airports in St. John’s, Victoria, Regina or Saskatoon. But while the location of municipal airport tarmacs is regulated by Transport Canada, private tarmacs can be built wherever someone is willing to lease the land. At low altitudes, Werny says the only navigation technique available to pilots is to “see and avoid.” Near-collisions, he warns, are becoming increasingly common.

This month, following on the heels of a study by the Fort McMurray Airport Authority that found 47 private air strips in the Athabasca oil-sands region alone, Werny set up a round-table group including private airstrip owners. While oil companies are wary of having private airstrips become regulated, many are taking part to discuss safety problems. While the group has “no authority” to set regulations, it is a first attempt to improve oversight for congestion concerns that have grown too big to ignore.

Italy’s prisons are so overcrowded and underfunded that living conditions were recently deemed human rights violations by the European Union. Oddly enough, they’re also at the heart of the country’s newest arts trend: prison theatre. As Italy’s cash-strapped government continues to slash funding for the arts, the country’s theatre enthusiasts are increasingly turning to prisons for a dose of culture. Almost every other jail in Italy now boasts an active theatre troupe. Rome’s high-security Rebibbia prison has sold more than 30,000 tickets since 2006; its take on Julius Caesar, starring mobsters and murderers, went on to become the subject of the award-winning 2012 film, Caesar Must Die.

While some Italians may be dismayed that unpaid convicts are overshadowing the country’s law-abiding artists, the government believes the programs teach prisoners empathy and trust. To Ivana Parisi, who organizes drama programs in a handful of Tuscan prisons, they enable prisoners to have “a dialogue with the outside world.”

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/news/world/all-the-jails-a-stage/feed/0Rebecca Mary Tarbottonhttp://www.macleans.ca/society/rebecca-mary-tarbotton/
http://www.macleans.ca/society/rebecca-mary-tarbotton/#commentsTue, 05 Mar 2013 15:00:33 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=355267A tough environmentalist who spent years roughing it in India, she decided to take a resort holiday to unwind

Rebecca Mary Tarbotton was born in Vancouver on July 30, 1973, to Mike, an engineer, and Mary, a homemaker. Becky, the eldest of three, had an adventurous streak and loved to perform. By age 9, she had mastered the fiddle and the unicycle. At 10, she met Emma Mason, who quickly became her best friend. Soon Becky was pestering Emma’s father to buy the house next door so the two girls could play together more often. “It was a rundown old house. I don’t think my father had any interest in it, but when Becky asked him, he thought, ‘Well, how can I resist?’ ” Within months, the Masons had moved in.

Becky and Emma started high school in a highly competitive, enriched program at the Prince of Wales Mini School on Vancouver’s west side. Becky performed in the school’s musical every year, most memorably as Grease’s Betty Rizzo, the leader of the “Pink Ladies,” the girls who “rule the school.”

At 13, Becky went on a hiking trip with the Masons in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, in B.C.’s Bella Coola Valley. As they flew out, Becky, peering from the window, was horrified to see massive swaths of old-growth forest that had been clear-cut. The stark remains left an indelible mark on her. From then on, the environment was her driving passion. Once, when she was 16 and driving to a beach on B.C.’s southern coast, Becky noticed a group of boys throwing crabs onto the two-lane highway to watch them get run over by passing cars. Incensed, Becky, who by then stood six feet tall and favoured big, imposing hiking boots, pulled over, waved her arms to stop oncoming traffic and stormed across the road to give the boys a piece of her mind. They quickly fled.

After high school, Becky went to McGill University, where she studied geography and, in 1993, took part in her first environmental protests over logging in Clayoquot Sound, B.C. She returned to Vancouver in 1995 to begin a master’s degree in community planning at the University of British Columbia and started working for the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC), a British environmental non-profit.

Becky spent the next eight summers in Ladakh, India, a sparsely populated, mountainous region in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, where she helped develop an advocacy group for female farmers. During the winter, she worked at the organization’s office in Devon, in southwest Britain, promoting alternative farming methods and the local food movement. In her spare time she liked drinking tea, reading books in her attic apartment and taking long walks in the countryside with Katy Mamon, a close friend.

In 2002, she moved to Berkeley, Calif., with the ISEC, eventually settling in Oakland. In 2007, she took a senior role with the San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network and, in 2010, became its first female executive director. Soon Becky was leading a well-publicized campaign against Disney, the world’s largest children’s book publisher. It had been using paper from Indonesian rainforests and the group’s pamphlets showed Mickey and Minnie wielding chainsaws. Disney quickly gave in, promising to use sustainably sourced paper.

Becky, though devoted to environmental causes, always found time for her friends and family. She’d often phone her mom from the ferry on her daily commute home from San Francisco to Oakland. In 2011, on a ski trip to a friend’s cabin in Lake Tahoe, Nev., she met Mateo Williford, a solar-power technologist. Mateo, who noticed she was “very much a goofball” like him, was immediately attracted, and the two were soon dating.

In April 2012, Becky’s father, Mike, passed away from cancer, a devastating loss to Becky and her family. Two months later, Becky and Mateo were married in Katy’s backyard, amid an organic garden and a pond, surrounded by friends and family.

Becky’s work kept her busy, but last December, she and Mateo decided to finally take a proper vacation. For a hardened environmentalist used to spending her spare time hiking the mountains near Ladakh, the tourist mecca of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, was an odd choice, but she decided to join a group of friends at the resort. On Boxing Day, the group took a long swim in the open ocean, swimming a half hour from shore. They hit rough waves and Becky inhaled some water. She made it back to the beach, but died of asphyxiation on shore. She was 39.

]]>If most Canadians are unaware the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party is in the final throes of a leadership contest, they can be forgiven—most people in Saskatchewan don’t know either.

In a recent poll, Praxis Analytics found 63 per cent of Saskatchewanians could not name a single candidate in the race, which will be determined at a convention on March 9. Perhaps more astonishing, 45 per cent were totally unaware the NDP—once considered Saskatchewan’s natural governing party—is having a leadership convention at all.

As the official Opposition, the NDP holds just nine of the province’s 58 seats. The remaining 49 are held by the Saskatchewan Party, formed in 1997 by Liberal and Progressive Conservative MPs. Disgruntled centrists saw the merger as the only way to oust the NDP juggernaut, which had governed Saskatchewan for most of the last 70 years.

While Saskatchewan NDP president Cory Oxelgren acknowledges the low profile of the race, he blames it on a lack of acrimony between the candidates. (The three leadership candidates are locked in a three-way tie.)

“If there was more divisiveness, there might be more headlines,” he says.

But the popularity of Premier Brad Wall, first elected in 2007, has certainly not helped. With its wealth of natural resources, the province emerged from the recession relatively unscathed, and Wall reaped much of the credit. His approval rating of 67 per cent makes him the most popular premier in Canada.

Still, Oxelgren is confident the party can mount a comeback in the next election. “I’m not worried that we will disappear.”

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/juggernaut-to-not-very-much-at-all-2/feed/1New report suggests Japanese whaling industry is drowninghttp://www.macleans.ca/general/from-whaling-to-watching-2/
http://www.macleans.ca/general/from-whaling-to-watching-2/#commentsTue, 19 Feb 2013 18:00:00 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=350236Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images
It is a national tradition that has boiled the blood of environmentalists for decades, but a recent report says the Japanese whaling industry is dead in the…

It is a national tradition that has boiled the blood of environmentalists for decades, but a recent report says the Japanese whaling industry is dead in the water.

While the government has always asserted that eating whale meat was an indispensable part of Japanese culture, a report compiled by the U.S-based International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) says demand for whale meat has fallen to a historic low. In 2011, whale meat consumption was just one per cent of its peak of 230,000 tonnes in 1962. The report says the whaling industry employed fewer than 1,000 people last year, and has only survived due to government subsidies, without which it would collapse. A decision to divert money from the tsunami disaster relief to prop up the whaling industry provoked an outcry.

Though the industry is fading, it may never disappear entirely. Eating whale meat can be traced back to the earliest Japanese religious texts and half the protein eaten in Japan during the Second World War was whale. But the report found 89 per cent of Japanese people had not bought whale meat in the past year. The IFAW recommends an entirely different kind of hunting called whale-watching.

It’s Valentine’s Day again, and what better way to celebrate then by reading dozens of articles about why love is probably dead. The reason, according to silver-haired columnists around the world, is because of today’s youth and their unholy reliance on technology. Why is there so much texting, they all ask, and so little staring into the soulful abysses of your lover’s eyes?

In 2009, David Brooks at the New York Times may have well started the trend for curmudgeonly Valentine’s griping when he wrote this article. According to Brooks, Facebook, Twitter, online dating–even cellphones themselves–are to blame for sucking all the rose-tinted, candle-lit romance out of life and leaving only the cold, tasteless husks of a casual relationship in their place. Brooks suggests a return to the “Happy Days era” when “courtship was governed by a set of guardrails”. While Brooks seems to appreciate that Happy Days is a fictional television show set in a pre-feminist era, he still thinks it’s better than whatever young people are up to now: instagraming their love into oblivion, probably.

This year, the New York Times celebrated Valentine’s season by publishing this article about how technology and “group hangs” are ruining dating. For some reason, the author posits, young people who are strapped for cash and time are hesitant to go on expensive dates with strangers, and it’s a social nightmare. The author says that online dating and texting is also increasingly making dating complicated for the twentysomethings of today, whereas the twentysomethings of the past were totally romantically uncomplicated and knew exactly what they wanted all the time.

This article from the Huffington Post discusses how texting not only ruins romance, but romantic movies as well. Take An Affair to Remember, for instance. I mean, if Deborah Kerr could have sent Cary Grant a text message saying “srry, got hit by car, meet @ ESB tmrrw?” would those lovers have even been miserable? Beautifully, romantically miserable?

The National Post is so upset by the way you are communicating with your loved ones, that they’ve made “The Death of the Love Letter” their cover story. In the article, the author looks at love letters from the turn of the century and the Second World War – the Golden Age of love, apparently, when a woman could receive heartfelt letters to cherish while her lover was far away from her, dodging bombs and going to jazz clubs to dance with those loose European gals. This is far more romantic then an email because, according to the author, there is nothing seductive about sitting behind your desk typing. Your lover could be playing mindsweeper, or eating Cheetos while meditating on your beauty and charm, and that’s far less romantic than in 1905, when your lover would be writing with an ink pot and artfully dying of gangrene.

CNN has kindly wrapped up all the best talking points articles across the web that are ruining your Valentine’s Day. What these article all have in common, besides excessive metaphor and clumsy romantic allusions, is that every writer seems to feel profoundly sorry for the women of today.

As an unmarried twentysomething woman (a.k.a, a 21st century spinster, doomed to forever drink my own tears at casual “group-hangs”) let me ease your mind a little: we’re fine. Men still write women love letters, take them out on dates, buy them flowers and all that stuff, because they know that some women are into that. The only difference is that now, there are more choices. Choices about how to communicate, how to date and how to be in a relationship… and that is a modern advancement worth celebrating.

America isn’t the only place where young pop stars have to apologize for having a sex life. Minami Minegishi, a 20-year-old member of the Japanese musical group AKB48, shaved her head in penance after a gossip magazine showed her leaving the apartment of a backup dancer from another band. It wasn’t the romance with a rival group that caused the scandal, but the fact that, as Minegishi said in an apologetic YouTube video, she did not “behave as a good role model” and follow the band’s rules about sexual behaviour—namely, it’s off-limits to girls. The tearful apology didn’t help her cause—management demoted the star to a trainee team.

Skeet truthers

When U.S. President Barack Obama told the New Republic that “up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time,” he probably never dreamed he’d set off a full-fledged new conspiracy theory, now dubbed “Skeetgate.” Many conservatives accused Obama of lying about his gun fandom; one Republican representative demanded to know “if he is a skeet shooter, why have we not heard of it?” The outcry grew so great that the White House released a photo of Obama shooting skeet at Camp David, which simply resulted in accusations that it was photoshopped, plus mockery of the “mom jeans” he was wearing in the picture.

Got live if you want it

After Barack Obama’s January inauguration, pop star Beyoncé Knowles was the subject of much derision after being accused of lip-synching TheStar-Spangled Bannerfor the occasion. Many questioned her ability to headline the Super Bowl halftime show, the most viewed live performance event on American TV. But this week, Beyoncé proved the skeptics wrong. At the Super Bowl press conference, the 31-year-old sang a live rendition of TheStar-Spangled Banner for reporters, before admitting she had sung over a recorded track at the inauguration, but only because she felt the occasion demanded perfection. She delivered the same degree of perfection during the Super Bowl, dancing hard, hitting every note, and reuniting with old bandmates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child.

Sperm mix-up

Norman Barwin is every artificial insemination patient’s worst nightmare: a man who doesn’t check the labels on the sperm samples. The 71-year-old Ottawa fertility doctor was found guilty by a panel of his peers for professional misconduct: at least three of his patients claimed they had babies whose fathers turned out not to be the sperm donors he promised them. For one Ottawa mom who was supposed to have been impregnated with her husband’s sperm (he’d preserved it before undergoing cancer treatment), that meant telling her son that his dad was, in fact, someone else. “You wonder,” says the young man, now 25, “ ‘Where am I from and who do I look like?’ I’ll never know.”

A Broadway whistleblower?

We’ve heard of corporate whistleblowers, but Marc Thibodeau may be the first alleged whistleblower in the world of theatre publicity. The producers of Rebecca, the disastrous musical whose Broadway opening was scuttled last October when one of its investors turned out not to exist, have sued their ex-publicist for sending an anonymous email to one of their actual living investors. The email, sent under the pseudonym Sarah Finklestein, warned an investor that the production was about to collapse and that he should withdraw his money before it was too late. If only all publicists could be so honest about their shows.

Iceland’s Blaer switch project

A 15-year-old Icelandic girl has successfully overturned a government decision that denied her the right to legally use her own name. Authorities had long rejected Blaer Bjarkardottir’s given name—which means “gentle breeze”—because it was too “masculine sounding” and not on the list of 1,853 approved handles for women. And for years, official documents and communications had referred to her as “girl.” It’s not clear whether the government intends to appeal the Reykjavik District Court ruling to the country’s Supreme Court, but the teen is claiming victory. “I’m very happy,” she told reporters. “Finally, I’ll have the name Blaer in my passport.”

Live-tweeting their own firing

The official HMV Twitter account went way off message last week when a staff member used it to live tweet the mass firing of employees. “There are over 60 of us being fired at once! Mass execution of loyal employees who love the brand,” read one of the @hmvtweets marked with the hashtag #hmvXFactorFiring. They were deleted from the account— after a manager reportedly asked, “How do I shut down Twitter?”— but not before being viewed, and shared, by thousands of users. HMV confirmed 190 people had, indeed, been fired as the British arm of the company restructures. Former HMV social media planner Poppy Rose Cleere, 21, said she’d long tried to teach HMV staff about the power of social media, but they “never seemed to grasp its importance.” Message received, apparently—loud and clear.

Britain’s new recipe for succession

Ottawa has introduced legislation to signal its support for amended rules of royal succession, following through on an agreement forged between British Prime Minister David Cameron and the leaders of 15 Commonwealth nations. The changes, which will hopefully become law before the birth of Will and Kate’s first child this summer, will update ancient traditions with an eye to equality. Now it will be the eldest born who gets a place in the line to the throne, regardless of sex. And the monarch and his or her heirs will no longer be prohibited from marrying a Catholic. (Although followers of Rome will still be excluded from becoming sovereign.) Heritage Minister James Moore called the reforms “simple but principled changes.” But Canada being Canada, there remains a debate about the process. Some legal scholars argue that all provincial legislatures must give their assent too.

Flaherty puts rumours to rest

Ottawa runs on gossip, but sometimes it’s nice to have the facts too. For months now, there has been speculation about the health and political future of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Last week, he finally addressed it directly, admitting he has developed a rare skin disease, bullous pemphigoid. It’s not life-threatening, but it is painful, and side effects from the steroids he’s taking to treat it have caused marked changes in his appearance and behaviour. The minister says he filled Prime Minister Stephen Harper in on his health problems months ago, and intends to stay on the job. He says he wants to stick around until the federal budget is balanced, hopefully in 2015.

Cookie heist

The Germans have a word for everything, even the guy who stole the gigantic gold cookie from a Hanover biscuit factory. The thief, who carried off the cookie and is holding it for ransom, has been dubbed das Krümelmonster, German for “cookie monster,” though Sesame Street has denied any connection between this thief and their furry blue cookie lover. But there are reasons to be suspicious: the anonymous Krümelmonster has declared he won’t give the cookie back until the cookie company gives cookies “to all the children in Bult hospital,” in Hanover. A cookie monster who loves kids? Keep denying it, Sesame Street. The cookie was returned this week after the cookie company’s CEO promised to donate 52,000 packages of cookies to local social facilities.

Art imitating life

Are you tired of reading about Lena Dunham? Well, tough luck, because the Girls creator-star has already signed to do another series for HBO. Dunham and Girls showrunner Jenni Konner will write and produce the pilot All Dressed Up and Everywhere To Go—an adaptation of a new memoir by Betty Halbreich, a New York personal shopper for the likes of Meryl Streep, and a HBO fashion consultant. Who better than Dunham to write the story of a privileged New Yorker with a lot of friends at HBO? Speaking of semi-autobiographical TV shows, Michael J. Fox was spotted in New York last week filming the pilot episode of NBC’s The Henrys. In it, he’ll play a newscaster forced to take time off to deal with a Parkinson’s diagnosis.

Burkas for babies

Saudi Sheikh Abdullah Daoud sparked outrage this week when comments he made last year surfaced online, in which he suggested sexual assault against children could be curbed if female newborns wore a full-face veil. Baby burkas would stop incidents of sexual exploitation of infants, said the preacher, as reported last week by Al Arabiya news. Even in conservative Saudi Arabia the suggestion was derided as extreme, with clerics are urging Muslims to ignore it.

Remember me?

Fidel Castro made a surprise stop at a Havana polling station this week. The former Cuban president moved slowly, and hunched over as he cast his ballot for parliament. Castro, 86, resigned in 2008, and is rarely seen in public.

]]>Canadians who dream of going to the final frontier will soon be able to find cheaper flights. Last week, Quebec tourism agency Uniktour announced it will be collaborating with Space Expedition Corp. and XCOR Aerospace to offer private space travel by 2014. Uniktour will be selling two different space packages, for $95,000 and $100,000, which includes hotel stays and astronaut training. That’s about half the price of the flights offered by main rival Virgin Galactic.

Trips booked via Uniktour will blast off from California’s Mojave desert and the Caribbean island of Curaçao. Unlike Virgin, which plans to take six tourists into space once a day, Space Expedition will be taking one tourist into space four times a day. Because the shuttle is so small, the tourist will be seated like a co-pilot. The flights will last about an hour, with several minutes spent at the edge of space, 100 km up: just long enough for passengers to experience weightlessness while admiring the blackness of space and the curvature of the Earth.

]]>In a single day last week, Research in Motion launched a new operating system, two new smartphones and changed its company name to BlackBerry. It also introduced a new employee, global creative director Alicia Keys.

The Grammy-winning singer said her “goal is to inspire creativity” in her new job (despite tweeting from an iPhone a day earlier). But will she be more than just a celebrity endorser? Giving musicians lofty creative director titles (will.i.am at Intel in 2011, Lady Gaga at Polaroid in 2009) has become an oft-ridiculed trend at tech companies. Kenneth Wong, a marketing expert at Queen’s University, says a true collaboration with Keys could actually be beneficial. “Celebrity culture is deeply integrated with the Internet and social media,” says Wong. And Keys could serve as a bridge to the app world that BlackBerry ignored in the past. “For BlackBerry not to use her would be a missed opportunity,” he says.

It’s been just over a year since Moammar Gadhafi was killed in Libya, bringing his violent, 40-year dictatorship to a sudden, brutal end. While the newly liberated country is still recovering from civil war and political unrest, some Libyan entrepreneurs are taking advantage of their new-found freedom—and for many, life is sweet. For the first time since economic sanctions were imposed in the early ’90s, the former Italian colony is finally indulging in the food it missed most—ice cream.

During the later Gadhafi years, it was almost impossible to acquire street-trading licences, and even more difficult to purchase the equipment and necessary ingredients from Europe. But since 2011, dozens of Italian-style ice cream shops have sprung up across the country. Every day, hundreds of Libyans brave long lines for brand-name flavours including Snickers and Nutella, and ice cream trucks are now common sights in city streets.

“There’s a market for it here,” Hussein Bannour, a gelateria owner from Tripoli, told the BBC. “Libyans are proud of things like this because we didn’t have it before.”

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/news/world/getting-their-just-desserts/feed/1Glen George Freelandhttp://www.macleans.ca/society/glen-george-freeland/
http://www.macleans.ca/society/glen-george-freeland/#commentsWed, 06 Feb 2013 15:08:07 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=347130Desperate to fly, he was denied a pilot’s licence due to two heart transplants. A year ago, after six appeals, he finally got his wish.

Glen George Freeland was born on Dec. 7, 1973, in Fairview, Alta., to Vaida Allan, 16, and David Freeland, 18. On the night Glen was born, a mix of wet weather and a flash freeze coated the roads with ice, and his mom barely made it to hospital in time. “Glen was in such a hurry to be born,” says Vaida. “And he never stopped being in a hurry.”

When Glen was two, his parents separated and David, a labourer, moved to Edmonton, while Glen and Vaida stayed in Peace River, near her parents. When Glen was a baby, he loved pickles, exploring, and making people laugh. Vaida couldn’t open the back door without Glen crawling out, and making for the nearest mud puddle. He was the class clown and made friends easily, but his best friend was Brian Freelend (sic), one of his three “double cousins”—the children of Vaida’s sister, Trish, and David’s brother, Bob, who had also married. Vaida remarried and had two more children, 10 and 12 years Glen’s junior, but he remained closest to Brian, who was just 1½ years younger than him. When they were kids, they loved building elaborate tree forts—which they would then knock down and rebuild. “Glen never stuck with one thing for very long,” says Brian. “He was always coming up with new ideas.” He and Brian came up with all kinds of outlandish business schemes to line their pockets, and Glen bought his first snowmobile when he was 16, months before he bought a car.

That year, he began to have trouble running, and within weeks, any activity left him short of breath. He was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a disease that deteriorates the muscles of the heart. He and Vaida saw a specialist in Toronto, where he was put on a wait list for a new heart, and fitted with a pacemaker. The first thing Glen did on leaving the hospital was to begin leaping over planters along Yonge Street. “He never let his illness slow him down,” says Vaida.

When he was 19, his heart began to fail rapidly. The available heart wasn’t a good fit (the donor had been older), but he needed it: he’d had severe muscle loss, and low blood circulation was causing sudden dizziness, so he and his family agreed to the transplant.

After high school, Glen and Brian started their first real business in private garbage pickup in Peace River. During his rounds, Glen would often admire Kristen Lokseth, out on her morning run. Although they knew each other through mutual friends, it took him seven years to ask her out. On New Year’s Eve, 1999, they went on their first official date. By the end of the night, Kristen knew that it was the only one they’d need: they were destined for each other. In 2000, they married and had a daughter, Morgan. That same year, Glen’s new heart began to fail, but doctors had found another, stronger heart, and he underwent a second transplant.

Despite his health struggles, Glen was constantly pursing new projects, and launched dozens of businesses, including Fossil Communications, a telecommunications firm specializing in cell and radio reception in oil country. Despite his hectic schedule, Glen also found time to pursue his hobbies, often in the company of his large extended family. In 1996, he tried to obtain a pilot’s licence, but was rejected due to his heart. He reapplied, and appealed the decision six times over 14 years, distracting himself with his other love: boating. In 2007, he and Brian made a pact at a Peace River pub to compete in the World Jet Boat Marathon in New Zealand. Brian assumed the idea would be abandoned, but Glen entered the contest the next day; later that year, they won their division. In 2011, he took his fight for a pilot’s licence to a tribunal, arguing that he should be eligible to fly because his heart condition was so closely monitored by doctors. The tribunal agreed, and Glen celebrated by buying a Robson R-44II helicopter. He used it to commute to work, to quickly reach remote locations in the oil sands, and especially loved flying with daughter, Morgan, his “co-pilot,” by his side. In the spring of 2012, he and Kristen welcomed a baby boy, Simon, to the family. By then, they’d settled in Okotoks, Alta.

On Dec. 5, Glen was flying home to Okotoks. At 12:30 p.m., an emergency beacon was fired from the helicopter, signalling distress. Rescuers found the ruins of his helicopter roughly 12 km southwest of Slave Lake, where it appeared to have crashed into a hillside. Glen had died in the crash. He was 38.

I first felt the loneliness in the winter of 2010, when I would get together with my regular crew of early twentysomethings in a dive bar or a beer-glazed living room. It was the first true winter of the iPhone, and where once, in the heyday of our youth, we would spend our time socializing meaningfully, looking deeply into each other’s eyes as we discussed world issues, now everyone seemed to be transfixed by their cool new phones, and specifically, by“apps”. Charlie had an app which helped him build a bookshelf, Chad had an app to help him run five kilometres, Lucy had an app which was just a bunch of photos of fit girls’ bottoms and they all had Angry Birds. “What apps do you have?” they asked me.

“I have no apps,” I said, the shame welling up inside me. “I only have a competent phone, which keeps me reliably connected to friends, family and school.”

“Oh,” my friends said sadly, “you’ve still got a BlackBerry.” Then they turned back to their individual apps, and I sent myself a calendar reminder not to let them see me cry.

Three years later, I am still slogging through life with only a BlackBerry. I’ve thought about switching to something newer, sleeker–something with a big screen where I can play Draw Something, but I’ve never made the leap. I’m an old soul, I guess. I don’t want any of this touch screen nonsense; those keyboards just make me stress out about accuracy and finger pressure. Give me a physical keyboard with letters and numbers I can actually click on. In only a few years together, I feel like my BlackBerry knows me, my weaknesses and my needs. I knows that a little red light makes a text message seem important. It knows that Brickbreaker is the most complicated video game I’ll ever be able to play. It knows that a phone camera should only render good pictures in the safety of daylight.

This new BlackBerry phone, this Z10 business, which we’ve been hearing so much about, apparently has all the features and qualities that one would expect in a high-quality android or iPhone, but I have to ask the company one thing: Why? Why did you choose to be more like them?

Sure, BlackBerry might have been “losing customers”. Okay, so they weren’t “turning a profit” and their stock was “plummeting at an alarming rate.” But at least they were different. They were sticking with what made them great, and while this new model may “turn the company around” and “save them from the brink of destruction,” I, for one, am a little disappointed.

Make me a phone that’s just a little less sleek, and a little less fun, BlackBerry. Until then, I’ll be sitting in my rocking chair, reminiscing about the good ol’ days with my 9900.

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/society/technology/heres-a-twentysomething-that-doesnt-want-a-sleek-new-blackberry/feed/11Wynne poised to become premier. Next up? Realityhttp://www.macleans.ca/general/wynne-poised-to-become-premier-next-up-reality/
http://www.macleans.ca/general/wynne-poised-to-become-premier-next-up-reality/#commentsSat, 26 Jan 2013 23:41:15 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=342860Kathleen Wynne is almost certain to become Ontario’s next premier. She will be the first woman to hold the position, as well as Canada’s first openly gay premier. With Gerard…

]]>Kathleen Wynne is almost certain to become Ontario’s next premier. She will be the first woman to hold the position, as well as Canada’s first openly gay premier. With Gerard Kennedy’s and Charles Sousa’s endorsements, the only question left at the Ontario Liberal convention is: will Wynne’s victory speech air before the hockey game, or during it?

Tonight, Wynne’s victory will be sweet.

Tomorrow she will have to let go of optimistic rhetoric and face reality.

The Liberals are polling in third place provincially. Just today, thousands of teachers and union representatives took to the streets in protest of Bill 115 (for which Wynne voted) and what they characterize as the undemocratic legacy left to Ontario’s Liberals by Dalton McGuinty. Tomorrow, Wynne will have to answer to that legacy. She may say her leadership ushers in a new beginning, but the unions are much less likely to take her at her word than the adoring crowds of large-L Liberals that have surrounded her on the campaign trail.

If one thing differentiated the campaigns of Kathleen Wynne and her main rival Sandra Pupatello, it is that Wynne was running one race: the race to become Premier. Pupatello was running in two: the race for Premier and the race for Leader of the Opposition. While some have found her combative rhetoric abrasive, especially in contrast to the overwhelming optimism exuded by her fellow candidate, the Pupatello approach had some long-term merit. The next premier will lead a minority government and a party that’s more despised by its small-l liberal base than ever before, there is a very good chance Wynne will be leading an opposition party before long.

Tonight though Wynne is poised to make history. Tonight she should bask in the lights, dance with her campaign team and savour the taste of victory because tomorrow, she could very well be eating crow.

]]>With the first ballot out of the way, it’s on to second choices at the Ontario Liberal leadership convention in Toronto.

In speeches on Saturday morning, the would-be Liberal leaders wooed both committed supporters and those they hoped to attract after the first results.

Results of the first ballot were as follows:

Sandra Pupatello, 599

Kathleen Wynne, 597

Gerard Kennedy, 281

Harinder Takhar, 234

Charles Sousa, 222

Eric Hoskins, 150.

The candidates delivered speeches with great energy but with very little mention of any policy.

Themes of the day: “Optimism” and “Hope” — two things that only capital “L” leaders possess, at least according to these leadership hopefuls.

The party’s’ message: Look out, Hudak, you’re up against a party that believes in the future … whatever that involves. Group hug!

Harinder Takhar was up first and it was his job to rile up a tired crowd that appeared slow to adapt to convention mentality. (The mentality being that it’s normal to dance for candidates and “Woohooo!!!” when someone mentions “our values,” before even define what they are.) Takhar’s speech launched the two-hour discussion of hope and dreams and feelings that would define most speeches. He did hit specific notes on better jobs for immigrants. He also talked about bringing down the deficit … somehow.

Gerard Kennedy, a veteran of Liberal conventions both provincially and federally, touted optimism and Liberal values. He urged delegates to give as much thought to their second ballot as their first. If he is going to become premier, it will be based on second choices.

Wynne’s speech was energetic and light. She was introduced by delegates dancing to Pink’s “Raise your glass.” While political dancing is normally too embarrassing to consider, Team Wynne danced so hard and so fierce even the most committed Pupatellans couldn’t help but clap. Wynne was also light on policy and focused on optimism and the Liberal family. She was at her best when taking on the question of her “elect-ability.” While many have claimed a gay woman might not be able to win a general election, Wynne pointed out that 50 years ago, every candidate would have had baggage. It’s easy to imagine that a Catholic, an Indo-Canadian, an Portugese-Canadian or a woman can, potentially, take win Ontario’s highest office, so why not a lesbian? The Twitterati responded to her speech with a mix of “That’s so gutsy!” and “Who cares? Stop trading in on your sexuality!!”

Sousa touted the benefits of high-speed rail and investment into the Ring of Fire, but his speech was met with little enthusiasm — even from his own team.

Sandra Pupatello used her introductory video to remind delegates that politics isn’t pretty. So much so that sometimes the only person man enough for the job is a woman — a woman from Windsor. Greatest moment of the convention so far: The slow-motion shot of Pupatello walking through the mean streets of Windsor, wearing a furry coat with a long, glitzy necklace. The speech shifted between optimistic and tough, as Pupatello touted her time in Opposition and strongly stated that the province needs business, labour and government to work together if anyone expects anything to get done. But that video … that video was good enough to be a low-budget music video from 2003. Or an add for General Motors from 2009.

The candidate who would be first to drop off the ballot was the last to speak on Saturday morning.

Eric Hoskins arrived with just six per cent of the delegate support. His video drew on his humanitarian experience and general selflessness. His presentation focused on the importance of rural Ontario, where real families live with real values — unlike those who live in the city, in ridings like his own, St. Paul’s. Hoskins said his lack of delegates allowed him to speak from the heart, away from the “political machinery” of talking points. He then hit on all the familiar talking points, though that just might have been what was in his heart.

After first-ballot results were announced, Hoskins pledged his support for Wynne.

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/general/on-to-second-choices-at-the-olp-convention-but-first-group-hug/feed/1Two tributes to Dalton McGuintyhttp://www.macleans.ca/general/two-tributes-to-dalton-mcguinty/
http://www.macleans.ca/general/two-tributes-to-dalton-mcguinty/#commentsSat, 26 Jan 2013 11:32:02 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=342549If you were to believe Dalton McGuinty’s son — and most people do on this — the premier gave himself the nickname “Premier Dad.” On Friday night at Maple Leaf…

]]>If you were to believe Dalton McGuinty’s son — and most people do on this — the premier gave himself the nickname “Premier Dad.” On Friday night at Maple Leaf Gardens, the Liberal Party of Ontario celebrated “Dad” first and “Premier” second.

Inside the convention, the tribute began with an introduction by two of his children, who laughed about the family nights and golf games they shared with their dad, far away from Queen’s Park. Later there was a slideshow featuring photos of a young, shaggy-haired McGuinty teaching kids to water ski, followed by photos of the polished politician holding babies, and finally of the silver-templed premier gamely pouring coffee with a laughing Tim Hortons worker. When McGuinty finally faced his audience at the end of the night, he was the first person to mention legislative issues and only vaguely alluded to improvements in education, health care and the environment.

Outside, hundreds of teachers assembled for a tribute of their own. Chants of “What’s disgusting? Union Busting!” greeted Liberal delegates. The teachers are protesting Bill 115, a bill that severely limits teachers’ ability to strike, which was passed and then repealed by the Ontario Liberal Government. Teachers say they will protest all weekend so the next premier knows exactly what to expect. The bill has come to represent the souring relationship between teachers unions and the provincial government, a dispute that many believe prompted McGuinty’s surprise resignation in October.

Rob Millard, a teacher at West Humber Middle School, said he and his fellow teachers braved the cold to have “one last talk” with McGuinty. “All we want is a chance to negotiate with our employer, same as anyone else, and bill 115 took that away” he says. “So this is our tribute.”

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/general/two-tributes-to-dalton-mcguinty/feed/1Who’s who in the Ontario Liberal Leadership racehttp://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/a-guide-to-the-ontario-liberal-leadership-race/
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/a-guide-to-the-ontario-liberal-leadership-race/#commentsFri, 25 Jan 2013 19:11:08 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=342026What you need to know about the six candidates, and then some

After the surprise resignation of Dalton McGuinty in October, the Ontario Liberal Party is finally ready to elect a new leader. While there are currently six candidates vying to be Ontario’s next premier, the odds are it will come down to a two-way race between Toronto’s hyper-progressive Kathleen Wynne and Windsor spitfire Sandra Pupatello. The voting process, however, may render a few surprises. Instead of allowing all party members to vote, the next premier will be selected by 2, 200 chosen delegates and “ex-officios”—former and current Liberal MPPs and MPs. The same process was used in the federal Liberal leadership contest in 2006, which saw Stéphane Dion upset front-runners Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae after Dion received overwhelming support from delegates of defeated candidate Gerard Kennedy. While the process has been criticized for being both time-consuming and elitist, watch for it to inject a little drama into the weekend’s voting.

Candidate: Sandra Pupatello

Age: 50
Hometown: Windsor, Ontario
Percentage of Delegates (as of Jan. 21st, 2013): 27 per cent
Previous position: director of business and global markets PricewaterhouseCoopers (2011- pres), MPP for Windsor-Sandwich (1995-1999) Windsor West (1999-2011)
Portfolios: Minister of Community and Social Services (2003-2006), Minister of Education (April 2006-Sept 2006)
Minister of Economic Development and Trade (2006-2008, 2009-2011)
Minister of International Trade and Development (2008-2009)

Strengths:

Bilingual

The only candidate from outside the GTA (only two of 24 premiers in Ontario’s history have hailed from the province’s biggest city)

Strong economic credentials

Specific platforms on social assistance, developing the Ring of Fire mining deposit in Northern Ontario, and improving health care in that region

Untainted by McGuinty government scandals like anti-strike legislation, Bill 115, which targeted teachers, or the cancellation of gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga which could leave the province with a $1 billion bill.

Weaknesses:

Does not currently hold a seat in the Ontario legislature, has said she would hold over McGuinty’s unpopular prorogation until she could win a seat in a by-election.

Has few nice words for her fellow Liberal candidates. “There is no reason I’d be in this race but for this terrible year,” she told the Toronto Star, suggesting the better candidates who would normally have run to replace McGuinty, like Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, are too connected to the scandals to be considered. “When I stand back and look at the cast of candidates, even I would pick me.”

She’s rumoured to have left politics in 2011 because of a falling out with McGuinty’s inner circle.

Oversaw Transit City (a comprehensive public transportation plan for Toronto that was later cancelled by Rob Ford) as transportation minister.

Effective campaigner. In 2007, she pulled a surprise upset in her riding, Don Valley West, defeating John Tory, who was leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives at the time.

Has plans to give cities more autonomy over transportation, green projects

Is often described as “easy to like”

Weaknesses:

Thin economic credentials. Often answers questions about the economy in a social justice framework. When asked about the economy in January, she told the Ottawa Citizen that if someone is sitting in traffic for 45 minutes on their way to work, or if climate change affects a farmer’s apple crop “those are economic issues.”

Voted for Bill 115, although she later told reporters that she only supported it to maintain her seat in cabinet.

A proud Torontonian – not a good thing to be if you want to win a provincial election.

As Minister of Education, he increased teacher salaries by 10.5 per cent over four years and quelled any labour strife.

Bilingual

Weaknesses:

Already launched two failed leadership bids (for Ontario in 1996, where he lost to Dalton McGuinty, and for federal liberal leadership in 2006, where he lost on an early ballot and went on to support Dion)

Detailed plan to balance the budget by 2016, including a focus on small business and tax incentives for companies hiring new employees.

Detailed plan to address challenges faced by people with developmental disabilities

Weaknesses:

Highly criticized for entering the race just before the deadline, accused of running as a “stealth candidate” while he was still in cabinet.

In January, the Toronto Star reported that a factory run by Takhar did not follow provincial safety laws and has twice been reported for dangerous working conditions.

Candidate: Charles Sousa

Age: 54
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario
Registered Delegates: 11 per cent
Previous Positions: various positions with the Royal Bank of Canada, MPP for Mississauga South (2007-present)
Portfolios: Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (2011-2012), Minister of Labour (2010-2011)

Strengths:

He ran a well-organized campaign,

He’s the most right-of-centre candidate and has a history of working across party lines (campaigned for then, future PC leader John Tory when he ran for mayor in 2004)

Sound business credentials

Weaknesses:

Has less experience in provincial politics and a thinner portfolio than his opponents

He’s failed to distinguish himself on the campaign trail.

Candidate: Eric Hoskins

Age: 52
Hometown: Simcoe, Ontario
Percentage of Registered Delegates (as of Jan. 21st, 2013): six per cent
Previous positions: President and co-founder (with wife, Samantha Nutt) of War Child Canada. Physician and humanitarian, MPP St. Pauls (2009-pres.)
Portfolios: Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (2010-2011)
Minister of Children and Youth Services in October (2011-2012)

Strengths:

Academic and humanitarian credentials (highlights of which include a Rhodes scholarship and being inducted into the Order of Canada).

]]>Over the last year, by some estimates, roughly 50 dogs have gone missing in southeastern Manitoba, sparking fears there is a dognapping network at work. And while the RCMP insist there is no evidence to support this claim, locals are becoming increasingly convinced the animals are being used as “bait” dogs to train other dogs to fight.

Many of the dogs disappeared when they were on private property. One resident told the Winnipeg Free Press he found tire tracks and a dog biscuit near his property, but because he had an invisible electric fence, his dog was not lured away. Others have not been so lucky. Last week the skinned remains of a dog were found beside a rural highway propped up in the snow. Owners have formed a Facebook group to share their stories.

But even if police discover the pets were stolen for dogfighting, there may not be much they can do. Under the federal Criminal Code, only those who are shown to be “wilfully neglecting” animals can be charged with animal cruelty. In Manitoba, it is illegal to make animals fight each other, but what constitutes participation in a dogfight isn’t clear, making the crime hard to prosecute.

Rooftopping

Tom Ryaboi has always been a fan of heights. One night, when he was a young child, his father came home from work and found him sitting on top of the refrigerator, taking in the kitchen from a new angle. Ryaboi’s appetite for height has only grown. At 23, he began sneaking into construction sites and taking photographs from the rooftops and ledges of Toronto’s highest skyscrapers. Climbing up cranes, evading security guards and risking the occasional trespassing ticket, Ryaboi has captured heavenly perspectives and stomach-turning drops rarely seen by anyone. And in his five years of gravity-defying work, he has helped to turn “rooftopping” into a global photography trend. “I like that everyone is making it their own,” he says. “The kids in Russia, in Melbourne, they all do something a little bit different.”

These days, building owners are happy to have the photographer immortalize the view from their rooftops. “Ironically, some of the buildings that I entered on my own have now invited me back to shoot again,” he says.

Although Ryaboi has taken his talents to a number of cities, including Chicago, Detroit and Montreal, he says Toronto is still his favourite muse. “Toronto has more buildings under construction than all of the States combined,” he explains. “Going up an unfinished building, looking for that shot . . . it’s a rush.”

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/general/photo-essay-rooftopping-is-the-new-trend-in-photography/feed/6The mood from (the very far back) of the National Mallhttp://www.macleans.ca/news/world/the-mood-from-the-very-far-back-of-the-national-mall/
http://www.macleans.ca/news/world/the-mood-from-the-very-far-back-of-the-national-mall/#commentsMon, 21 Jan 2013 20:50:17 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=339988Mika Rekai reports on the spirit of the crowd furthest away from the Capitol building

In 2009, Washington D.C. prepared for hundreds of thousands of people to descend on the nation’s capital to celebrate Obama’s first inauguration. When over two million arrived, pouring into every corner of the National Mall, the mood was often described as “electric”. After an unprecedented campaign, hope and change had arrived in the United States, and people were holding their breath to see what this new president could do.

In 2013, the mood has changed. At the far back of Washington’s National Mall, well beyond the ticketed area closest to the Capitol building, the faithful still crowded. Families and church groups shared hot coffee and granola bars; senior citizens, overwhelmingly African-American, leaned on shaky walkers; and college students belted out Bruce Springsteen songs to pass the time. Some of the very youngest Obama supporters curled up on blankets and napped, while one five-year old from Maryland sat on his father’s shoulders and informed us all that he wanted to ignore the TVs and watch “real life”. When Obama came forward to take the oath, that same boy, apparently tired of watching specks of people in the distance, yelled: “It’s happening! The inauguration is almost over!”

The mood was not electric, but it was happy. While President Obama has not irrevocably changed the divisive nature of American politics, he has lead the country through four tumultuous years, and he has successfully passed legislation–and moved forward the national conversation–on healthcare, gay marriage, gun control and climate change. For these reasons, many Americans were happy to brave the crowds and the cold of D.C to welcome him back; not as a symbol of hope and change, not as a super-human national healer, but as a man they are proud to call their president.

Before being picked as Barack Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden was best known by American for commuting by train between Washington and Delaware and for his many, cringe-inducing verbal gaffes.

Despite being one of the longest serving members of the U.S. Senate, in 2008, Biden captured less than one per cent of popular support in the Democratic primary, and dropped out after the Iowa caucus.

When he joined the Obama ticket, his age and years of government service were intended to appeal to voters concerned about Obama’s lack of experience. Biden, they seemed to think, had the gravitas to balance out Obama’s youthful celebrity.

Now, four years later, the roles have switched. Biden has become the Obama administration’s great humanizer. Once thought embarrassing, his gaffes are now considered refreshing. As Washington becomes more scripted and reliant on political talking points, Biden says what he’s thinks.

While Obama was trying to drum up support for the stimulus bill, Biden was telling reporters that no matter what the government did, there was a “30 per cent chance they’d do it wrong.” Unhelpful though the comment may have been, America seemed to agree. While Obama walked the rhetorical line between compassion and personal freedom on behalf of his controversial healthcare bill, Biden signed the bill and declared it “a big f–king deal.” Two years later, Obamacare divides the country, and like the bill or not, few wouldn’t agree that it is, indeed, quite a big deal.

Biden’s awkward but endearing personality has become a punchline on multiple comedy shows and network sitcoms. On SNL, Joe Biden (played by Jason Sudeikis) can go toe to toe with Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin. On NBC’s Parks and Recreation, main character Leslie Knope (played by Amy Poehler) says her ideal man has “the brains of George Clooney and the Body of Joe Biden.” Biden even made a cameo on Parks after the 2012 election.

“He’s kind of like America’s crazy uncle,” says David, a student from Utah. “I don’t want him to be president or anything, but he’s a good guy. He makes politics more fun.”

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/politics/all-hail-the-veep/feed/0Brazilian sex workers brushing up on their English in World Cup lead-uphttp://www.macleans.ca/news/world/brazilian-sex-workers-brushing-up-on-their-english-in-world-cup-lead-up/
http://www.macleans.ca/news/world/brazilian-sex-workers-brushing-up-on-their-english-in-world-cup-lead-up/#commentsMon, 14 Jan 2013 21:23:37 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=337058Free classes on offer in advance of 2014 soccer competition

]]>Sex workers in Brazil, where prostitution is legal, will soon be getting a new set of skills to pay the bills.

Hundreds of prostitutes are signing up for free English classes in advance of the 2014 World Cup, which will be hosted by multiple cities in the country. Cida Vieira, president of the Minas Gerais state Association of Prostitutes, told Reuters learning to communicate in other languages will be extremely important for prostitutes who do not want to be taken advantage of. In English, they will learn to negotiate prices and boundaries, but also how to describe sexual fantasies and fetishes to provide better service.

The classes are “important for the dignity of the work,” says Vieira. “The women need to be able to negotiate a fair price and defend themselves.”

While proponents believe English lessons are a sensible investment in the lead-up to the World Cup, some in Brazil believe prostitutes’ time could be better spent learning to speak Portuguese, as many are immigrants and do not speak the local language. Regardless, tourism money is proving to be an effective catalyst for the education of the country’s prostitutes, many of whom are young and grew up in poverty.

When Mary Wheeler got married in 1975, her wedding was a relatively quiet affair. She was 21 when she walked down the aisle in a Treherne, Manitoba church, and wore a dress she sewed herself.

“Back then, planning a wedding in a farm town in Manitoba meant you only needed to call five people,” she says. “You call a minister, a caterer, a reception hall and your families.”

Wheeler says that she and her husband-to-be might have liked a splashier reception, but at the time they were more concerned with saving up for married life. To help the young couple get started in a new home, their parents threw them a social – a big Manitoba party to raise money for a soon-to-be-married couple.

“I think socials were a fairly new thing in the ’70s,” Wheeler says, “but they’ve become a Manitoba tradition.”

Over the years, the customs of a social – sometimes known as a “Winnipeg Social” – remain largely unchanged, and many Manitobans say it’s as much a part of their culture as cold weather and perogies. A few months before a couple gets married, hundreds of friends and family are encouraged to buy tickets to a big, pre-wedding bash, normally held in a legion hall or community centre. The organizers hire a DJ or a band, and all the guests are encouraged to buy raffle tickets and reasonably priced beverages, before enjoying a “late lunch”, normally a spread of rye bread, cold cuts and mustard, close to midnight.

But while nearly half a century has done little to change the nature of socials, many Manitobans feel that wedding fundraisers no longer fit the changing nature of marriage. With many couples getting married later in life, usually after they have established a career and already share a home with their fiancé, most brides and grooms already have the household tools they need, and are capable of buying anything else themselves. Socials are now usually held to raise money for the wedding itself, with future brides and grooms making no bones about asking family, friends and coworkers to shell out.

“These days, people are pretty blunt about it,” says Della Cogar, a Portage la Prairie business owner who married in 1981. While she enjoys socials, and always buys a ticket if she knows the couple, she says that the constant hunt for cash can be a bit excessive, especially when there are so many worthy charities in need of money. “It’s all a bit much for a party.”

Despite backlash from older generations, socials are more popular than ever in Manitoba, and are turning even bigger profits. Manitoba couples are being more creative about how they raise money, too, often canvassing local business for donations to their silent auction, or investing in big items like widescreen TVs and barbeques in hopes of turning a profit on raffle tickets. In 1975, Wheeler and her fiancé raised $600, which they spent on a washer and dryer for their new home. In 2010, Portage la Prairie native Lisa Casper and her fiancé raised $8, 000, which covered part of their wedding reception costs.

Casper, a 28-year-old food development scientist, admits that while socials can seem like a cash-grab at first, most attendees think they are well worth the money.

“It’s a way to encompass everybody,” says Casper. While she and her fiancé couldn’t invite everyone they wanted to their wedding, they were happy to host over 350 people at their social. Casper says she had no trouble fundraising, and most people agree that weddings are a good cause. In Manitoba’s small towns, she says, wedding socials are often the highlight of people’s social life, especially in winter, which is considered “social season.”

“In high school, I was always way more exited to go to a social than I was to go to a bar,” she says. But she says that even young people have their limits when it comes to supporting new couples.

“If you are older, like in your late ’30s, you shouldn’t really have a social, especially if it’s your second marriage,” she says. “But even then, weddings are expensive. Why not raise money by throwing a party?”

Are Manitoba socials pretty much the same as stag and does, buck and does, and jack and jills? What do you call the version of a Manitoba social where you’re from? We’d love to hear in the comments below.

]]>In China’s densely populated cities, it’s not uncommon to see cars driving on the wrong side of the street, barrelling down bike lanes or even parked on the sidewalks. In the last two decades, as the number of motorists has grown astronomically, Chinese roads have become a Wild West of traffic violations. In 2011, nearly 70,000 people were killed in traffic accidents, and tens of thousands more were injured. But last month, traffic wardens began fining some of China’s most prevalent lawbreakers: pedestrians.

While some have lauded the government for enforcing any traffic laws at all—speed limits and red lights are routinely ignored—critics say targeting pedestrians is ineffective and unfair.

“Chinese drivers don’t stop at traffic lights, so either you jaywalk or you don’t cross the street,” says Tyler Ehler, a Canadian student living in Nanjing. The problem, says Ehler, is the driving class has simply grown too large, too fast—“teenagers are learning to drive at the same time as their parents.” A country full of new drivers, he says, is bound to have its share of traffic accidents.

While some dismiss traffic accidents as mere growing pains, others question whether China’s thousands of road fatalities are an inevitable consequence of its rise.

For taxpayers concerned with out-of-control government spending, 2012 started on a bright enough note. Last January, the Department of National Defence announced it wanted to buy 20,000 custom-printed stress balls for its staff. Once Defence Minister Peter MacKay caught wind of the plan, he quickly cancelled the contract, calling it an “unnecessary expense of taxpayer money.” Noble words, but it was a brief reprieve. As Maclean’s found once again when researching this project, whether it was Ottawa, the provinces, municipalities or the organizations they oversee, governments couldn’t help themselves when it came to doling out cash. What follows is but a fraction of the foolish, wasteful and blatantly stupid ways governments found to spend taxpayers’ money. To uncover this year’s 99 items we pored over press releases and auditor generals’ reports, sifted through proactive disclosure statements and delved into media databases across the country, ferreting out examples of spending that occurred in 2012 or came to light last year. There will be those who take issue with some items on this list, arguing, for instance, that funding rock concerts boosts the economy. But the reality is that at every level of government, we’re in far worse fiscal shape than we were even a year ago, despite all the talk of cutbacks and austerity. And as this list makes clear, those who control the public purse have yet to really change their ways.

Here are the last 33 of the 99 ways the government spent your tax dollars in 2012. (Here’s Part I and Part II)

Nice job — Working for the taxpayer, that is

67Ghost committee: Twenty-one Alberta MLAs were each paid at least $1,000 a month to sit on a committee that hadn’t met since 2008. Some MLAs claimed they didn’t know they were collecting for being on the standing committee on privileges and elections, standing orders and printing. Taxpayers scoffed at the $261,000 annual total, and Alberta suspended the payments in March.

68 Double dipping: An audit uncovered an unnamed retired public servant, who, while collecting a pension, landed $170,000 worth of training contracts from the Canada School of Public Service. Incidentally, among the school’s courses, one teaches values and ethics when managing public funds.

Meanwhile: Joe Fontana, the beleaguered mayor of London, faces fraud and breach of trust charges after allegedly using $20,000 of government money in 2005 to pay for his son’s wedding (69); a public service watchdog revealed an unnamed bureaucrat at Human Resources and Skills Development expensed massage chairs plus flat-screen TVs for her home, while hiring a “close relative” who collected excessive overtime pay (70); a House of Commons committee found former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe used “many thousands of dollars” to pay a partisan political staffer (71); B.C. Premier Christy Clark paid a $67,000 severance to a press secretary after just 11 months on the job (72); a development company owned by the Mushuau and Sheshatshiu Innu communities in Newfoundland paid its CEO Paul Rich more than $1 million in just two years (73); a Treasury Board report revealed federal employees are calling in sick an average of 18 days a year, roughly 2½ times the absentee rate in the private sector, which costs taxpayers more than $1 billion a year (74); dozens of federal Conservative staffers have failed to keep up with their credit card payments, with the industry minister’s office alone racking up $4,000 in delinquent fees (75); after barely two years on the job at Alberta Health Services as an executive, Allison Tonge, an import from Britain, was let go with a severance package of 12 monthly payments of $35,000 plus $15,000 in relocation expenses for her return to the United Kingdom (76).

On second thought — a change of plans doesn’t come cheap

77Read and weep:Calgary Transit spent about $500,000 preparing for the launch of a new electronic payment system, only to cancel its contract with the supplier in November. Some of the card readers had already been installed on buses and at LRT stations and had to be removed.

78Registered complaint: After the Ontario Ministry of Health scrapped a project to develop an electronic registry of diabetes payments, claiming there were no cancellation costs, an audit found the ministry actually spent $24 million on the defunct project.

79Timber tussle: The City of Ottawa has spent $853,000 in legal fees and settlement payments to block six homeowners from chopping down city trees that were growing into their houses, only to backtrack and agree to cut down trees causing “serious damage” to private property.

Meanwhile: Two years after spending $86,000 to install bike lanes on Jarvis Street in Toronto, the city spent $272,000 to remove them after complaints from the mayor (80); Industry Canada spent three years and $1.4 million on an online calculator for people to compare cellphone rates, only to scrap it after lobbying from the telecommunications industry (81); the District of Lillooet, B.C., had to spend $5,000 to hold a by-election after the mayor and a councillor quit after one month on the job (82).

Infrastructure — building a better way to spend your money

83Wheels of fortune: Rather than purchase a new truck for its fleet, when public works manager Dan Brazier’s 17-year-old pick-up broke down in February 2011, the City of Colwood, B.C., spent $1,000 a month to rent one while it worked on developing an equipment replacement strategy. By December, after it had racked up $10,000 in rental charges on a truck worth $30,000, the city finally decided it had better buy a vehicle.

84Shut the door: Taxpayers in Waterloo, Ont., forked out $173,000 in emergency funding to replace four fabric doors on a landfill garage after one of them blew off, just three years after the doors were installed. The door supplier said they were never built to withstand wind levels seen at the site and shouldn’t have been used.

85Dunce cap: An investigation by the Toronto Star unearthed a host of questionable spending on maintenance work by the Toronto District School Board. Among the waste: $143 to install four screws into a $17 pencil sharpener; $3,000 and 76 hours to install an electrical outlet in a school library; $266 to hang three pictures (and another $857 to do it again eight days later); $164 for four workers to move a school bench; $810 to scrub graffiti from a bathroom wall and $2,670 to replace light bulbs in a school lunch room.

86Nobody’s home: The federal government spent $1.5 million to maintain a massive 108,000-sq.-ft. warehouse known as Plouffe Park in Ottawa, which is set to be torn down next year. It has poured another $5.5 million into the former headquarters of Agriculture Canada, though the building has sat empty since 2009.

Meanwhile: Vancouver’s Translink transit authority paid $500,000 for just 13 TV screens installed in Skytrain stations in 2009; many of them no longer work (87); Transport Québec spent $2.2 million on a paving project but left a utility pole in the middle of the road, forcing them to redo that stretch at further expense (88); Quebec taxpayers are paying $700,000 a year for rented office space in Tokyo to house provincial diplomats in Japan rather than use the Canadian embassy (89); Regina’s Prairie Valley School Division paid $2,400 for two office chairs even as it campaigned against cuts to its education budget (90); a property line dispute near Sudbury, Ont,, between Richard Majkot and the city has, over the last five years, cost taxpayers $500,000 (91); Ontario taxpayers have yet to see the final bill for two power plant projects Dalton McGuinty’s government cancelled just days before the 2011 election, but it’s at least $230 million and could top $1 billion (92); an audit of Ontario’s scandal-plagued air ambulance service Ornge found the government-funded agency is paying 40 per cent above fair market value to lease its headquarters from its own subsidiary, which has already meant $2 million in overpayments during the first five years of the 25-year lease (93).

Law and disorder — Keeping the peace keeps costing more money

94Hat trick: The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces spent $438,385 on government-branded sports memorabilia it claimed were crucial to recruiting and peacekeeping efforts. Over the past five years the departments have spent a staggering $176,000 on hockey pucks alone, with a DND spokesman saying it was crucial to promoting Canada’s role “in contributing to international peace and security.”

95Insecurity: When it was announced former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush would swing through Surrey, B.C., in 2011 for a $600-a ticket debate, Mayor Dianne Watts insisted the event wouldn’t cost taxpayers a penny. Instead, it cost $45,000 for RCMP to provide security.

96Naked theft: Ahead of the 2010 G20 summit in Toronto, critics warned it was a bad idea to hold such a high-security event in the middle of downtown, and today the costs keep coming. Among the 144 businesses the government had to compensate: the Zanzibar Tavern strip club, which received $5,900 for lost income.

Meanwhile: The Ontario government spent $225,000 on bulletproof vests for provincial park wardens carrying out “enforcement duties” despite the fact no warden has ever been shot (97); the Abbotsford, B.C., police department spent “under $1,000” to mail Christmas cards to those on the city’s naughty list, featuring a photo of the police chief as a heavily armed Santa Claus (98); the Canada Border Services Agency paid a Nanaimo shipyard company nearly $350,000 over two years to look after the MV Sun Sea, a rusty ship that had brought would-be refugees from Sri Lanka in 2010 (99).

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/99-stupid-things-the-government-did-with-your-money-part-iii/feed/499 stupid things the government did with your money: Part IIhttp://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/99-stupid-things-the-government-did-with-your-money-part-ii/
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/99-stupid-things-the-government-did-with-your-money-part-ii/#commentsTue, 08 Jan 2013 15:38:15 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=333367Expensive OJ, sausage research and a report on 'hi' in Quebec

For taxpayers concerned with out-of-control government spending, 2012 started on a bright enough note. Last January, the Department of National Defence announced it wanted to buy 20,000 custom-printed stress balls for its staff. Once Defence Minister Peter MacKay caught wind of the plan, he quickly cancelled the contract, calling it an “unnecessary expense of taxpayer money.” Noble words, but it was a brief reprieve. As Maclean’s found once again when researching this project, whether it was Ottawa, the provinces, municipalities or the organizations they oversee, governments couldn’t help themselves when it came to doling out cash. What follows is but a fraction of the foolish, wasteful and blatantly stupid ways governments found to spend taxpayers’ money. To uncover this year’s 99 items we pored over press releases and auditor generals’ reports, sifted through proactive disclosure statements and delved into media databases across the country, ferreting out examples of spending that occurred in 2012 or came to light last year. There will be those who take issue with some items on this list, arguing, for instance, that funding rock concerts boosts the economy. But the reality is that at every level of government, we’re in far worse fiscal shape than we were even a year ago, despite all the talk of cutbacks and austerity. And as this list makes clear, those who control the public purse have yet to really change their ways.

Here are 34 to 66 stupid things on our second annual list of waste that shows spending by all levels of government is still way out of control. Check us out tomorrow to see the last 33 stupid things your government did with your money. (And find 1 to 33 right here.)

34 The Town of Innisfil, Ont., spent four years and $42,000 on outside consultants to design a new logo, even though a local graphic designer offered them a logo she designed for free.

See the world — So long as it’s on the taxpayer’s dime

35Down under: Claude Benoit, CEO for the Old Port of Montreal, billed taxpayers $10,100 for a 29-day trip she took with a friend to Australia and New Zealand, claiming she was working for part of the trip. In 2012 the federal government asked the auditor general to probe Benoit’s spending after a series of unusual bills, including $7,100 for trips to Sweden and Florida and $38,000 for catered meals to the port offices.

36Vacant splendour: Alberta spent nearly $114,000 on more than a dozen unoccupied rooms at a five-star hotel in London during the Summer Olympic Games. The province had planned to send 47 people to London to promote Alberta tourism, but scaled back, leaving the rooms at the $850-a-night Le Meridien Piccadilly empty.

37Working holiday: Councillors in Central Saanich, B.C., didn’t think to check on their colleague Terry Siklenka after giving him a six-month paid leave of absence worth $6,000. If they had, they would have learned he was still hard at work—having taken a job on the side in the Cayman Islands. Only after a media uproar ensued was Siklenka forced to resign.

38Fumble for fame: B.C.’s Liberal Speaker, Bill Barisoff, his deputy, NDP Claire Trevena, and a clerk billed taxpayers to take their spouses on a junket to Africa, with at least one couple travelling business class at a cost of $7,000 each.

Meanwhile: Alberta’s Conservative government dropped $70,000 on a caucus retreat to the luxurious Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge to brainstorm how to trim the province’s $3-billion deficit.(39); Minister of National Revenue Gail Shea and a staffer spent $2,400 to attend a “Tax Savings Day” event in Toronto to promote a previously announced small-business tax credit (40); Statistics Canada had to cover a $4,000 bill for damage caused to a hotel room by a census enumerator (41); three federal departments spent more than $50,000 sending diplomats and bureaucrats to London to learn how to promote the oil sands (42); the Quebec government spent $200,000 for a bash in Paris to celebrate the province’s 50th anniversary of having a delegation in that city (43).

Reports of wasted spending — are in no way exaggerated

44 Hi and dry: Quebec uncovered yet another threat to the French language in that province—the rising scourge of the word “hi.” Quebec’s language police hired a research firm at a cost of $150,000 to dispatch observers into 400 retailers in downtown Montreal in search of language infractions. The report noted a dangerous increase in the use of “bonjour, hi,” from one per cent of salutations two years ago, to 13 per cent.

45 Public lard-caster: The CBC spent $56,000 to survey its own employees in a sole-sourced contract with Phoenix Strategic Partnership. Surprise, surprise: 80 per cent had a positive impression of the CBC and 70 per cent said the public broadcaster succeeded at “enriching democratic life.”

46 Jet lagged: After dissing reports from the auditor general and Parliamentary Budget Office that warned the price of F-35 fighter jets would be far higher than the $16 billion the Harper government promised, the feds shelled out $645,000 for an outside opinion. After paying KPMG to review the defence department numbers, the government finally accepted the price would be $45 billion.

47 Scooped: When the Guelph Mercury reported complaints from two councillors about city staff in the Ontario town, other councillors voted to have the city’s integrity commissioner look into the matter. Three months and $10,500 later, lawyer Robert Swayze submitted his report, stating any violation was inadvertent, prompting one councillor who voted for the investigation to declare it a “complete waste.”

Meanwhile: A year after the city hired an outside firm to complete an efficiency review of the Toronto Police Service at a cost of $249,965, the police services board put out a tender looking for a consulting firm to look for “delayering” opportunities at a cost of $299,000 (48); a $127,000 report Saskatchewan Health had commissioned from Ornge, Ontario’s troubled air ambulance service, turned out to be ghostwritten by a new M.B.A. grad with no industry experience (49).

Food and entertainment — Living it up on government money

50 Out of juice: Bev Oda proved a glass of juice can end a political career. But the former minister of international co-operation’s taxpayer-funded OJ, which famously cost $16, was only the tastiest of her luxuries. Oda also expensed a $1,000-a-day limo service and a $665-a-night stay at the Savoy hotel in London, only paying the money back after she was exposed.

51 A real hoot: The B.C. ministry of forests plunked down $375 over three separate visits to a Hooters restaurant in Edmonton.

52 Gift wrapped: In an effort to boost morale, the B.C. government has a $1.5-million program called the “recognition cupboard” that encourages employees to select from a wide variety of gifts, all paid for by the government, to give to their co-workers. Among the items employees can give each other on the public dime: Starbucks gift cards, CamelBak water bottles and Mountain Equipment Co-op backpacks.

53 Unhealthy spending: Allaudin Merali, a former CFO with Alberta Health Services, expensed taxpayers for more than $346,000—including $900 spent at a wine store. Merali also expensed $1,750 for repairs to his Mercedes and $2,300 for a new car phone. His punishment? No severance package.

54 Safety Wiener: Agriculture Canada handed $826,000 to Brampton, Ont.’s Cardinal Meat Specialists Ltd. to help the meat-processing company research a sausage that doesn’t burst open when cooked. In a news release, Pierre Lemieux, the parliamentary secretary for agriculture, said a grant to develop a less-explosive sausage was critical to the government’s focus on “jobs, growth, and long-term prosperity.”

Meanwhile: Six months before Alberta’s XL Foods was shut down because of a massive recall of E. coli-tainted meat, the company got a $1.3-million contribution from Ottawa to upgrade its meat-processing facilities (55); The Canada Food Inspection Agency spent $19,900 to ask 1,200 Canadians how to label bottles containing blends of both Canadian and foreign wine—most said “Blended in Canada” (56); Alberta Premier Alison Redford’s sister, Lynn Redford, a health care executive, expensed $3,400 for attending partisan functions (57); Quebec’s state liquor authority, SAQ, paid $24,000 to wine critic James Suckling of Tuscany so he would visit Montreal and review 30 wines, all while denying it gave him any compensation (58).

Weather and Environment — the forecast is for lots of spending

59Calm down: The City of Waterloo said it plans to spend as much as $90,000 studying whether to erect a wind turbine, despite a 2011 report that showed the city wasn’t windy enough to make the project financially feasible. Regardless of those findings, the federal government gave the city another $63,000 to keep studying its wind turbine project.

60Walk the talk: In Winnipeg, after a councillor slipped on ice and broke his hip, the city spent $5,000 to help set up a website called Surefoot.org that gives a single general overview of “winter-related walking conditions” for the entire city, from “easy” to “hazardous.” The risk recently: “moderate.”

61Out of credit: The B.C. Pacific Carbon Trust was set up in 2008 to buy and sell carbon credits with the aim of reducing carbon emissions, but critics say it has mostly served to transfer taxpayer money from schools and hospitals to corporations. Over a year virtually all $14-million worth of credits were purchased by school boards, health authorities and other public agencies. Businesses bought just $54,050 worth. Yet as the Canadian Taxpayers Federation noted, huge companies like Encana, Canfor and Lafarge received an estimated $3 million by reducing carbon emissions and selling credits to the trust.

Meanwhile: The City of Whitehorse and the feds spent $258,000 to figure out a waste-to-energy facility wasn’t economically viable (62); Toronto shelled out $274, 000 to renovate Ted Reeve Community Arena, claiming the retrofits would pay for themselves, when an audit found no energy savings materialized and the arena board repaid just $51,000 of the upfront costs (63).

Nice job — Working for the taxpayer, that is

64Home alone: Senators who apparently live in the capital full-time are collecting thousands of dollars in living expenses meant to help with the costs of owning a second home in Ottawa. Over the past two years, Mike Duffy, a Conservative senator for P.E.I., has claimed $33,413, even though he spends most of his time at his Ottawa home. Likewise, Liberal Sen. Mac Harb, who has lived in Ottawa since the 1970s, has also received $31,237 while claiming his primary residence is in nearby Pembroke.

65‘Cause it hurts: In February, TTC commissioners loyal to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford voted to fire the transit system’s general manager Gary Webster “without cause.” The move triggered two years of severance payments totalling more than $500,000, costing the TTC more than if Webster’s contract had been allowed to expire.

66Book worm: Barry Holmes, the former CEO of the Greater Victoria Public Library, expensed $132,000 on his corporate credit card over 3½ years, including music downloads and $500 for hemp-based body cream. After leaving his job in Victoria, he took a similar position in Windsor, Ont., where, according to reports, he racked up another $67,000 in credit card charges, including $2,000 for antiques, before quitting.

For taxpayers concerned with out-of-control government spending, 2012 started on a bright enough note. Last January, the Department of National Defence announced it wanted to buy 20,000 custom-printed stress balls for its staff. Once Defence Minister Peter MacKay caught wind of the plan, he quickly cancelled the contract, calling it an “unnecessary expense of taxpayer money.” Noble words, but it was a brief reprieve. As Maclean’s found once again when researching this project, whether it was Ottawa, the provinces, municipalities or the organizations they oversee, governments couldn’t help themselves when it came to doling out cash. What follows is but a fraction of the foolish, wasteful and blatantly stupid ways governments found to spend taxpayers’ money. To uncover this year’s 99 items we pored over press releases and auditor generals’ reports, sifted through proactive disclosure statements and delved into media databases across the country, ferreting out examples of spending that occurred in 2012 or came to light last year. There will be those who take issue with some items on this list, arguing, for instance, that funding rock concerts boosts the economy. But the reality is that at every level of government, we’re in far worse fiscal shape than we were even a year ago, despite all the talk of cutbacks and austerity. And as this list makes clear, those who control the public purse have yet to really change their ways.

Luxury hotels, hemp body cream and subsidized hip-hop concerts: our second annual list of waste shows spending by all levels of government is still out of control. Find 33 of those stupid things below. And check us out tomorrow to see 33 more stupid things your government did with your money.

Sports & Leisure — when blowing money is the name of the game

1 Bad slice: The City of Abbotsford, B.C. handed a $115,000 “one-time grant” to a struggling municipal golf course, claiming its problems stem, in part, from poor weather. In a report, city staff said “good weather” was among the things “being worked on” to turn it around.

2Sore loser: Former Regina mayor Pat Fiacco expensed more than $4,000 worth of tickets to sporting events, including $1,055 for Montreal Alouettes season’s tickets, nearly 3,000 km away. The tickets were the result of a bet Fiacco made with former Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay that the Saskatchewan Roughriders would beat the Alouettes in the 2010 Grey Cup. The Riders lost—and so did Regina taxpayers.

3Cheap seats: Sam Katz, mayor of Winnipeg, is a big fan of the Blue Bombers, but apparently not enough to pay for tickets out of his own pocket. The mayor billed taxpayers $2,033 for a pair of season’s tickets, even though critics pointed out that other politicians, like Premier Greg Selinger, paid for their own sporting tickets.

4Losing bet: Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo clearly knows when to hold ’em and fold ’em. The B.C. Lottery Corp. paid him $160,000 last year for an endorsement deal that included a $10,000 entry fee into the World Series of Poker event in Las Vegas—pocket change for a man with a decade left on a $64-million hockey contract.

6 Out of bounds: The City of Whitehorse coughed up $1.3 million for Mount Sima, a struggling nearby ski hill. The money was diverted from the city’s infrastructure fund, which had been topped up by the federal government. That was on top of $1.6 million the city gave the hill a year earlier for a ski lift.

Meanwhile: Ottawa shovelled $1.5 million into 10 Quebec snowmobile clubs for snow grooming (7); the feds pumped $13,000 into a Tsawwassen lawn bowling club in Delta, B.C., to create “jobs, growth and long-term economic prosperity” (8); the City of Ottawa spent $48,000 on a “deluxe” three-sided bike cage for city employees (9); Saanich, B.C., faces an $818,000 deficit on the city-owned Cedar Hill golf course (10); Kitchener, Ont., transferred $1 million into a “golf stabilization reserve fund” to prop up two money-losing golf courses (11).

Other folks’ money — corporate handouts and subsidies for all

12Korpporät welfår:Ikea is a Swedish retailing behemoth rolling in kronor, but when it came to opening its first store in Winnipeg, that didn’t stop the city and province from offering a combined $22 million in subsidies. Did we mention Ikea’s annual sales of $30 billion are roughly three times what Manitoba brings in each year from all forms of taxes, fees and transfers?

13Paper chase: In December 2011, Nova Scotia’s provincial government handed $24 million to the owner of the Bowater Mersey paper mill in return for a swath of company land in the hopes of staving off its closure. By June the mill had gone out of business.

14Something fishy: For more than a decade, Supreme Sturgeon and Caviar of New Brunswick raked in some $3 million in grants and loans from the federal government before falling into receivership in 2010. Resurrected by new owners as Breviro Caviar, it’s now back in the subsidy business, winning $200,000 from Ottawa in marketing funds and $50,000 to “hire expertise in caviar production.”

15Flat battery: The B.C. government said it would spend $2.7 million to build hundreds of electric-car-charging stations across the province in an effort to encourage drivers to buy vehicles such as the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf. That’s in addition to a $5,000 rebate to drivers. Yet just 210 electric vehicles have been sold in the province—effectively translating into an $18,000 per vehicle subsidy for the carmakers.

Meanwhile: Four months after getting $3.8 million from New Brunswick to create 300 new jobs, Radian6, a social media monitoring firm, said it would slash 100 jobs globally (16); a CBC News analysis found $20 million doled out by Newfoundland to attract out-of-province business generated just 58 full-time jobs (17).

Cultured club — the same old song and dance for taxpayers

18TV time: British Columbians saw $48,000 go to bringing Entertainment Tonight Canada to Vancouver for three days. Included in the provincial payout was $16,000 in airfare from Toronto and $12,000 worth of hotel accommodations.

19Tear down the haul: The federal government subsidized Quebec City’s summer festival to the tune of $1 million, in part to help pay for a show by former Pink Floyd band member Roger Waters. The Plains of Abraham was the last stop on the aging rocker’s Wall Tour, which earned a total of $158 million from worldwide ticket sales.

20Party on: The B.C. government sponsored a $3-million rock music tour last summer called JobFest, where attendees (when there were any) were offered on-site career counselling. Roughly $100,000 went to promotional kits, including glow sticks, guitar picks and glossy posters, mailed out to local businesses and media.

21Moving pictures: Winnipeg city council voted to spend $10,000 to transfer a work of art from the old Winnipeg airport to the University of Manitoba, even though city staff recommended denying the request.

22Stamped out: 2012 marked the 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede, and though it bills itself as the “Greatest Show on Earth,” the federal government still felt the need to kick in $5 million to promote it—including putting a chuckwagon food truck in New York City.

23A black eye: In May, Halifax councillors voted to cut a cheque for $360,000 to cover bad debts stemming from a money-losing Black Eyed Peas concert two years earlier.

Showing off — The price of looking good is on the rise

24Maybe he’s born with it: Not one to be caught without his game face on, it was revealed the office of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty expensed $130 worth of cosmetics for an apparent beauty emergency ahead of a televised budget announcement. Flaherty’s staff scrambled to purchase concealer, blush, loose powder and shaving supplies to do the minister’s makeup after a cosmetician cancelled at the last minute. For anyone wanting to replicate the look, Flaherty wears a combination of Maybelline, CoverGirl and Smashbox.

25Funny money: The Bank of Canada spent nearly $40,000 to promote its new $20 bill. The spending included $35,832 to a company to design and install seven-storey images of the new polymer note on the bank’s headquarters in downtown Ottawa in May. In total, spending to promote the new bill equalled 1,942 of the new $20 notes.

26Fumble for fame: Four small cities, including Guelph, Ont., and Langley, B.C., forked over a total of roughly $100,000 to have former football great Terry Bradshaw appear in short promos about them that were meant to attract new American business to small-town Canada. The videos found airtime mostly off hours, while the famous QB, who narrates the promos, couldn’t sound more bored.

27Over-planned: The recession may have ended a while ago, but that hasn’t stopped Stephen Harper’s government from spending millions on advertisements featuring its Economic Action Plan stimulus slogan. The government spent $16 million in three months on feel-good commercials about Canada’s economic prosperity.

28Top gun: Despite getting a mock jet for free from manufacturer Lockheed Martin, Defence Minister Peter MacKay still managed to spend $47,000 on a 2010 press conference where he posed with the fake plane.

29Centless spending: Eliminating the penny was supposed to save the government, but not without a final splurge. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty stamped the last Canadian penny in a photo op that cost $56,000.

30Gold medal waste: The federal government spent at least $4.5 million on ads that ran during the two weeks of the London Olympics, but shelled out just $214,000 to Canadian athletes who won medals during the Games.

Meanwhile: Jason Kenney’s department spent almost $750,000 monitoring what ethnic media were saying about the immigration minister and his ministry while denying the exercise was politically motivated (31); B.C. Premier Christy Clark’s office spent $64 million on ad campaigns, twice that of her predecessor (32); the City of Ottawa spent $3,500 on a consultant to teach firefighters how to talk to the media, despite having a communications staff of 44, many of whom were capable of doing it themselves (33);

]]>The case of the Ikea Monkey will be heard in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice this month.

The story of a sharply dressed rhesus macaque named Darwin, who was caught exploring a north Toronto Ikea in December, captured imaginations and inspired art – largely of the “meme” variety – around the world. But when the 10-month-old monkey was later taken into the custody of an animal shelter, his owner took legal action against the primate sanctuary, and Darwin became the centre of controversy.

Here is the factum of the plaintiff, former Darwin owner and wardrobe co-coordinator, Yasmin Nakhuda. The defendant’s statements were not available at this time.

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/general/read-darwins-owners-plaintiff-statement-online/feed/0Thousands call for the resignation of leader Leung Chun-yinghttp://www.macleans.ca/general/thousands-call-for-the-resignation-of-leader-leung-chun-ying/
http://www.macleans.ca/general/thousands-call-for-the-resignation-of-leader-leung-chun-ying/#commentsWed, 02 Jan 2013 18:05:28 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=332784To mark the coming of a new year, Hong Kong residents took to the streets in protest against the Chinese government. On Jan. 1, between 26, 000 and 130, 000…

]]>To mark the coming of a new year, Hong Kong residents took to the streets in protest against the Chinese government. On Jan. 1, between 26, 000 and 130, 000 protestors called for the resignation of Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying, who is accused of illegally renovating his mansion. While the protests widely focused on the alleged corruption of Leung, who took office last year after being chosen by a small, elite committee, many came to protest a general lack of democracy in the semi-autonomous region.

The Associated Press reports that many protestors chanted anti-Beijing slogans, and many used anti-Beijing iconography in their calls for greater democracy. During the march, one man depicted Leung as a wolf in a Maoist uniform and many protestors waved the British colonial flag that was used in Hong Kong before it became part of China in 1997. A smaller, pro-Beijing protest was also held in the city, with between 8, 000 and 60, 000 in attendance.

This is not the first time that Hong Kong has pushed back against the Chinese government. In the summer of 2012, tens of thousands marched against compulsory “Chinese patriotism classes” for all Hong Kong students, which the government eventually eliminated after students started skipping the classes en masse. On June 4th, record numbers attended a vigil in Hong Kong to mark the 23rd anniversary of the Tienanmen Square massacre, a practice which is largely forbidden on the mainland.

]]>The ruthless world of tabloid photography has taken another victim. TMZ reports that Hollywood paparazzo Chris Guerra was killed yesterday in Los Angeles, while tailing Justin Bieber’s Ferrari. The 29-year-old photographer was hit by oncoming traffic when, after seeing Bieber’s car get pulled over by police, he walked onto the street hoping to get a shot of the Canadian pop-superstar. Guerra had been tailing Bieber all day when he saw the singer’s car leave the Beverly Hills Four Seasons.

While Bieber was not present at the accident – his car was being driven by friends – the 18-year old released a statement today expressing his “shock and sadness” and calling for “meaningful legislation” to protect tabloid photographers and their subjects. No charges have been issued against the driver of the vehicle which struck and killed the photographer.

]]>Shoppers at Staples in Europe will soon be picking up a different kind of printed product. The office supply giant plans to bring 3D printers to selected stores in Belgium and the Netherlands. Starting next year, customers can upload files online and collect in-store their finished three-dimensional objects—from architectural and medical models to product prototypes. The move may be the first step in making 3D printing widely available to the masses. Three-dimensional printing, which allows people to produce small objects (typically made of plastic or paper material) from computer code, has been hailed by many as the next great technological leap, but prohibitive costs have stalled its widespread adoption so far. The printers range in price from $3,000 to $20,000. Staples, which has partnered with a 3D printer maker called Mcor Technologies, says it plans to quickly expand its “Easy 3D” program to other countries.